Hope Bringer

"While you live, the revolution lives."

"When I thought you were dead, I lost hope. I'm telling you. But when you came back? I was ready to believe anything."

— Ashley Williams, Mass Effect 3

We have two sides of a conflict — The Empire is opposed by La Résistance or just common folks they oppress, The Legions of Hell fight with Church Militants, the Galactic Conqueror is in a war with The Federation, the Multiversal Conqueror fights against the Guardian of the Multiverse, the Scary Dogmatic Aliens are opposed by The Men in Black and Space Marines. And one side has a giant advantage; they win on every front and it's only a matter of time before they utterly annihilate their enemies. This is the Darkest Hour for the weaker side, but fear not, because Hope Springs Eternal.

Then in come these nobodies. Hope Bringers are living proof that one person can make a difference and even the odds. By their actions, they restore hope in the hearts of their allies and lead them into the fight and victory. They can be the Big Good, the Magnificent Bastards, The Chessmasters, The Ace, the Rebel Leader or the People Of Mass Destruction — whatever makes them so special, it works. They can make the two sides not only fight on equal ground again but even reverse the situation and make the side they help repay the other one for everything they did.

The Hope Bringers’ motives may vary. They can help the good guys because they believe in justice, love their fatherland, want revenge, tend to their flock, spread the Good News or just Because Destiny Says So. Often the Hope Bringer is the Chosen One.

Note that this isn't always a good thing, since Hope Is Scary and sometimes leads to a Hope Spot. And occasionally the hope bringer is a Dark Messiah who’s willing to do anything to bring hope — regulations, brainwashing, manufactured reality, whatever.

Compare The Hero, Magnetic Hero, Messianic Archetype, Supporting Leader, and All-Loving Hero. Can be created by Summon Everyman Hero. Contrast with The Dreaded (although, from the villains' perspective, the Hope Bringer may well be The Dreaded), who is defined by how others fear them. The opposite of this trope is Hope Crusher, who delights in despair and destroying any semblances of hope.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Attack on Titan has Eren Yeager, a human with the ability to turn into a Titan. Many people see him as the only viable weapon against the Titans. He is responsible for the first victory humanity has had in over a century of fighting. As of Chapter 50, this goes even further when he gains the ability to control normal Titans.
• Bleach has Ichigo become this after the Time Skip, though it only really becomes obvious during the Thousand Year Blood War arc: the moment the Shinigami learn, in the middle of an invasion that's quickly going south, that Ichigo is on his way to assist them and that his Bankai cannot be stolen by the enemy, the news are met with joy, excitement and the understandable expectation that the tide will turn in their favour once he arrives. Unfortunately, Quilge's Jail delays him until the invasion is practically over.
  Rukia: Ichigo will come... I know he will!
• Casshern Sins offers several examples, and most of them are attacked by robots so depressed they think hope is scary.
  • Luna is the most prominent, "Find Luna and she will heal you."
  • Janice inspires with her songs.
  • Casshern himself is an odd example. He brings hope through the rumor that his flesh can cure the Ruin.
• A Certain Magical Index: Touma Kamijou is really good at helping people who have long given up and think a situation is hopeless to believe again by showing up to kick the bad guy's ass and then solve whatever the problem was.
• Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass — before he entered the scene, the Japanese La Résistance was weak, divided, and didn't have a chance at defeating Britannia's army. Zero managed to not only create a force that the oppressing army in Japan had to reckon with but during the course of the series formed an alliance against Britannia with every single free country in the world. At the end of the series, Lelouch specifically invokes this trope — only with himself as the evil emperor and Zero (actually his ally Suzaku) as the Hope Bringer.
• In Delicious in Dungeon, meeting Izutsumi and learning what she is restores Laios' hope that Falin can be restored from her chimera form and regain her sanity, despite the fact that defusing the souls is considered impossible.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Goku inspires hope in those who know him. More than once, his friends and family break down into Tears of Joy when they know he's coming.
  • Although he is a Fake Ultimate Hero, Mr. Satan inspires hope for the people on Earth. He's the only thing that kept them sane during the Cell Games and Buu's onslaught.
  • Gohan zig-zags this. Goku wants him to become this, but he's weighed down by his own self-doubt. However, Gohan inspires his friends to make one last stand against Cell and he restores hope in Piccolo, Goten, and Trunks when he returns to fight Buu.
• Fist of the North Star:
  • Kenshiro is known as the "Savior of Century's End" for this very reason. Ken makes it his sworn duty to protect the innocent wherever he goes as he spends his time Walking the Earth. Meanwhile, anyone who would hurt the innocent or exploit their talents for evil will find themselves at the end of Ken's Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs before hearing "You Are Already Dead" as their head explodes.
  • Also, Raoh and The Dragon Ryuuga for those under Raoh's dominion: he may be the Big Bad, but he protects his subjects from raiders and bandits. Best shown when he was believed dead, and his troops in two villages started brutalizing the civilians: in one, people were in despair until Ryuuga started killing the mutineers (note that Kenshiro was there, and people were still desperate); in another, Raoh shows up, and people start cheering, while the mutineers, after their boss got his head slapped off, kneel to receive their just punishment (death by stomping from a giant horse).
• Fullmetal Alchemist has a villainous example in Fuhrer Bradley. After the good guys have successfully launched a coup, knocked the enemy mooks into complete disarray and are chanting "Victory", Bradley simply says "Greetings. I'm back" over the radio. Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!" from the good guys, and a Heroic Second Wind from the enemy soldiers.
• At the end of Higurashi Kai, this trope is discussed when Rika says that the only world when they managed to defeat Big Bad was one where Hanyuu was a real person, not a ghost. Also, Keichii did do wonders to her resolve.
• In Inazuma Eleven , Gouenji Shuuya (Axel Blaze), is often this to the team. Notable in one episode of the second season, when they are losing against Epsilon, unable to score or to stop the opponent's offensive, with their striker having an Heroic BSoD. The team end up demoralized... until Gouenji comes and quickly reverses the situation, raising up everyone's hope.
• Kamen Rider Spirits presents the eponymous Kamen Riders as this in the first chapter.
  Taki: Hey... won't you believe in him? That... even if there is no God or Buddha... there is Kamen Rider!
• Maria no Danzai: Maria seems to be this for victims of bullying; after Kowase kicks Yashima so hard that she vomits, then threatens her not to snitch on him when Maria shows up, she is somehow able to genuinely calm down after Maria comforts her. Later, as Kowase is trying to drown her in his own home, Yashima thinks of Maria while mentally begging for someone to come save her. Cue Maria doing just that (not that Yashima ever finds out).
• Mobile Suit Gundam — Amuro, with his Gundam, was a factor who helped balance the odds in the war between Zeon and Earth Federation. It was later retconned by saying that his Gundam wasn't the only one used in that time. Downplayed in that none of them had the same propaganda impact as Amuro Ray the White Devil and the other units were based in out-of-the-way locations like Southeast Asia or the Thunderbolt sector and didn't really take part in major campaigns like Odessa or A Baoa Qu.
  • The Gundam as a symbol of hope is a recurring theme throughout the Univeral Century and other continuities. Best exemplified by Bright Noa's speech from Hathaway's Flash
  Kenneth: Captain, you probably dislike the use of the name Gundam for the machines of rebel elements, right?
  Bright: Not exactly. Previous generations of Gundams were always piloted by those with rebellious spirits. In their final moments, those Gundams always ended up getting decapitated, blown up, or engulfed in flames. However, even after the Gundam was gone, that rebellious spirit always stayed strong.
• My Hero Academia:
  • All-Might is very conscious about being this. He was born into a world where everyone was constantly on edge, living in fear, and no matter how many heroes there were, crime never seemed to go down. He decided that the world needed a "Symbol of Peace", someone who could always save the day with a smile. For over twenty years, he has been the unshakable foundation of the world's peace... which is why he strives to make sure that the public doesn't realize that he was horribly wounded five years ago.
    All Might: Everything's all right now! I am here!
  • Special mention goes to the USJ attack. It's the biggest villain attack in years, directly in the heart of a hero school. The pros and the students do their best, but it's a difficult fight, and the students are slowly realizing that not all of them are going to survive this. Then All Might arrives, and everyone instantly relaxes — because All Might always saves everyone, and he never loses. Midoriya is the only one who realizes that they're still in danger because he's the only one who knows All Might is steadily weakening. All Might saves everyone anyway.
  • After All Might's retirement, Endeavor takes up the role of Number One Hero, but he is unable to become the Symbol of Peace because of his Anti-Hero reputation, villains becoming bolder in the absence of All Might and growing resentment against heroes. Instead, the one who picks up the torch is Izuku Midoriya, who aims to become the "Symbol of Hope" and become this to heroes, civilians, and villains (at least those who are willing to seek redemption).
• Naruto:
  • Naruto himself becomes this during The Fourth Shinobi World War. The allied shinobi forces aren't getting their asses handed to them, per se, but they're struggling and taking heavy casualties, to the Edo Tensei resurrected ninja. Along comes our protagonist, who has finished his Training from Hell, becoming even more capable, and has improved his relationship with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. He summarily uses his cloning technique to cover most of the battlefield, kick ass, save lives, and Spot the Imposter. Most, if not all, of his ninja comrades definitely see him as this now. Also counts as several big damn hero moments wrapped in one. This quality was possibly first hinted at during Pain's Assault.
  • Hinata is this to Naruto during some of the darkest moments of his life in the main series. Particular moments include right before his fight against Neji in the Chunin Exams finals, during his fight against Pain, and then when he falls into despair after Neji's Heroic Sacrifice and Obito's subsequent attempt to Break Him By Talking.
• One Piece:
  • The series's infamous flashbacks make it clear that just about every person Luffy meets and every place he visits was steeped in hideous tragedy until he showed up. One Piece's signature cheery, cartoony, light-hearted tone is almost entirely down to him and the people he influences.
  • Long before Luffy's time, there was Nika. Hailed as the Warrior of Liberation, it was said that he would bring smiles to the faces of people as he freed them from slavery. It turns out the Devil Fruit Luffy ate was actually a Mythical Zoan Human-Human Fruit modeled after Nika.
• Princess Tutu's titular character, whose Dance Battling Warrior Therapy either gets her opponents to return the prince's heart shards or stop before sacrificing their own hearts to the Raven. It is eventually revealed that Princess Tutu's pendant was the prince's last heart shard, the shard of hope. However, even after giving up the heart shard, Ahiru becomes a symbol of hope to everyone in the story, and her actions help Mytho to finally defeat the Raven once and for all.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The title character becomes the very embodiment of hope at the end of the series. That is, she brings hope to the verse's magical girls during their Darkest Hour and turns it into their happiest moment with pure kindness and sympathy.
• In Rayearth OVA, Hikaru tries her best to be optimistic and bring hope to her friends Umi and Fuu.
• In Rebuild of Evangelion, Shinji Ikari, yes that Shinji Ikari of all people, becomes this. After nearly causing the Third Impact and devastating the planet, he crosses a more severe Despair Event Horizon than he did in End of Evangelion to the point that he stops eating. After being shown kindness by the others (and Tough Love by Asuka) in spite of his mistake, he manages to come out of his shell as The Anti-Nihilist determined to make things right. Even being held at gunpoint isn't enough to stop him from getting in the damn robot to save everyone, and in the final showdown with his Archnemesis Dad, Gendo even names him the embodiment of mankind's hope while accepting its despair himself.
• In Sailor Moon, it's the title character herself. She inspires other people to fight despite the apparent hopelessness of the situation.
  • Early on, it was Sailor Venus: she debuted in the main series right when Zoisite and (in the old anime) Kunzite had the others almost resigned to die, and then she appears and saves the others by either killing Zoisite (manga) or sending him and Kunzite running for the hills in fear, and the others just know they have it in the bag.
    • In the manga she retains shades of this. Played for Drama, as the sheer effort to stay in character is eventually shown to have taken a toll on her, and because they admire her so much the others not only can't conceive she needs any help right when she needs it the most, they unwittingly hit on her self-esteem with the fact they've taken the Outers as role models because they consider her too good.
• In the second Space Battleship Yamato movie: After watching the entire Earth Defense space navy get devastated on live TV, the alien Comet Empire demands Earth's surrender. Just before the surrender, the Yamato warps in between the Empire and Earth, and everyone on the planet says "It's Yamato! We still have the Yamato! We're gonna win!" Keep in mind we're talking about a SINGLE SHIP appearing as a reinforcement after an entire FLEET was almost effortlessly destroyed by the enemy.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann starts with humans forced to live underground by an army of Beastmen with Humongous Mecha, who are slaughtering every single person they find on the surface. Then Kamina manages to create the Dai-Gurren Brigade, the first real La Résistance. When he dies, Simon takes his place and leads them to victory over the Beastmen and their master.
• In Tokyo Ghoul:Re, Eto explains to Kaneki that this is the true purpose of the One-Eyed King. Through a Thanatos Gambit, Arima would elevate whoever his successor would be to the status of a legend. This person would then be capable of leading the revolution that Eto and Arima had planned, becoming the hope of all ghouls. After defeating Arima and learning the truth, Kaneki accepts the role of the One-Eyed King.
• Tweeny Witches: As the Grand Master of Witches explains, dark magic takes away the will of every living thing to rebuild and even their hopes. It takes Arusu casting the magic of light to bring hope back to them.
• Undead Unluck: Fuuko Izumo becomes an inspiration for the whole of the Union as time goes by. Her partner Andy initially made her The Drag-Along to use her Unluck to find a way to kill himself, but would go on to regard the day they met as "the first day of his life". Upon joining the Union its leader, Juiz, begins to see the potential her Unluck has in their fight against God itself, and is among the members of the Union who grow genuinely fond of her. Even enemies see something in her, as the leader of Under, who can utilize Power Copying against anyone who hates him, can't get Fuuko's Unluck no matter what he does while recurring antagonist Victor eventually enables Fuuko to become the Union's leader, giving her the right to move on to the next and final Loop and the entire cast sacrifices itself to give Fuuko the time needed to do so. After those events, Fuuko hits the ground running to live up to the trust and hope she's inspired in others. She spends the 101st Loop not only recruiting every Negator she knows into the Union, not only doing so in such a way that she prevents or mitigates the tragedies that accompanied their Negation Abilities' awakening, but does so with friend and enemy alike and without Andy available to help her directly. The Union that develops from these actions has Undying Loyalty to Fuuko and is stronger and more numerous than any version that came before it.

Arts

• Statue of Liberty: Lady Liberty was gifted to commemorate that kind of freedom you can supposedly only find in the US. Therefore inspiring optimism in anyone who is enduring a tough situation both inside and outside America's borders.

Card Games

• In Nomine: The Archangel Blandine's role in the Symphony is to ensure that humanity always has dreams of a better day and works towards them. In this, she is contrasted and opposed by her demonic nemesis Beleth, who instead defines herself as a Hope Crusher.
• Magic: The Gathering:
  • Avacyn, Angel of Hope.
  • As the color of light, religion, and martial courage, White is the color most likely to draw strength from hope. Red, as the colour of emotion, is the next most likely.

Comic Books

• Batman is perhaps the only reason anyone with an ounce of sense stays in Gotham City. The sheer impact of Batman's presence can become a tide turner in much grander battles, as well: in Kingdom Come, Batman's arrival (almost) brings victory to Superman's faction in the climatic Battle of Gulag, as The Narrator points out.
• Captain America of course. He especially became this for the fractured and extremely distrusted Marvel Universe's superhero community when he returned to life during Dark Reign.
  • Also the one from the Ultimate Marvel universe. Cap is seen as this by many on his own team, such as Tony Stark. He was this for pretty much the majority of the American populace after he helped prevent the United States from breaking apart, and saved multiple people from the machinations of Thor's evil son, Modi.
• Captain Britain at least to the United Kingdom.
• Strangely enough, in the Disney Ducks Comic Universe, this role is often given to Donald Duck. After all, everyone who knows him has seen what happens when Donald gets angry... And their enemies often get him mad.
  • Best shown in the Reginella saga: whenever the planet Pacificus gets in a trouble they can't solve with their usual methods queen Reginella and her people start despairing right until Donald's arrival. This is the consequence of him single-handedly defeating an alien invasion in the third part.
• Darth Vader : In The Cry of Shadows, Genius Bruiser Clone deserter and Rebel Kaddak inspires the city he comes to defend to believe that their resistance means something, and even in the face of near-certain defeat, citizens cheer his name without fear as he stands against the Imperial invaders.
• Doctor Strange: Doctor Strange, especially as Sorcerer Supreme (it's practically his job description). If he shows up, things are either about to get a lot better or a whole lot worse.
• The Flash: The second Flash, Barry Allen, inspires hope in others to the point that during Blackest Night, he was chosen to become a blue lantern for 24 hours.
• Green Lantern:
  • Not surprisingly this is part of the job description of the Blue Lanterns who literally channel the power of hope. The relatively few people who can "inspire great hope" has limited their membership quite drastically. The fact that their planet and Power Battery got blown up in Lights Out doesn't really help.
  • In Green Lantern: Rebirth, John Stewart states Hal Jordan always managed to rekindle his self-confidence, even in the direst and most hopeless of circumstances.
    John Stewart: Our Rings could be out of power, we could be trapped on the edge of a black hole facing off against Evil Star — but if I looked Hal in the eyes, if he told me we were going to get out of it — I always believed him.
  • Green Lantern: Earth One has Hal inspiring and bringing hope to his fellow Lanterns, which is ironic given how aloof he was at the beginning.
• The Incredible Hulk: Used in The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect — La Résistance from a Bad Future uses a time machine to summon Hulk and ask him to defeat Big Bad Maestro, his evil future self. This happens again in the Planet Hulk arc, as Hulk ends up leading a rebellion against the Red King of Sakaar. This one ended in tears.
• Rat-Man (1989): This is the difference between a real superhero and a "man in tights": anyone with a superpower (or even without) can put on a costume and go out to fight crime, but a real superhero never gives up on hope and can inspire it in others... And Rat-Man, in spite of being an idiot with a horrible personality, is surprisingly good at both accounts, to the point that when a Son Goku Expy beat him up with a rock the rock begged for mercy while Rat-Man punched his opponent on the nose, causing the various Men in Tights to recover their hope and become real superheroes themselves (the first of them, the Man in a Spider Costume, is referred as the Superhero in a Spider Costume when he intervenes in the fight and saves Rat-Man at the cost of his own life).
• Superman:
  • Superman and Supergirl are The DCU's biggest examples, bringing hope everywhere and showing there's a better way. In some continuities, the "S"-shield is the Kryptonian symbol for "hope". Reinforced by the fact that Supergirl's motto is "Hope, Compassion and Help for all", and in Convergence: Adventures of Superman, Superman tells she brings him hope.
  • One of The Sandman (1989)'s Endless is Despair, the living antithesis of this trope. She convinced Rao, a red sun, to create life on an unstable planet. Both of them knew that the planet was doomed, and there would be just one single survivor, "to remember, to mourn, to despair...". The planet was Krypton, and that survivor would grow to become Superman. The amount of hope that this failed plan unleashed killed the first Despair. Superman destroyed the Anthropomorphic Personification of Despair just by existing.
• Transformers:
  • The Transformers (Marvel): In the early days of the war, the Decepticon war machine was marching across Cybertron. City-state after city-state fell to them. And then, at the last free city, one robot emerged to lead the battered Autobots into successfully pushing the Decepticons back. And his name was Optimus Prime.
  • In the UK comics, at least, this was mildly exploited by Emirate Xaaron, who made sure Optimus wouldn't be undermined by the remaining politicians and bureaucrats, and then left the rest to Optimus's sheer force of personality.
  • Optimus' status as this is used again in the "Return to Cybertron" two-parter. The Autobot resistance on Cybertron have basically given up, with only Blaster still fighting the Decepticons, and not entirely for the right reasons. Then they learn Optimus is still alive, and their fighting spirit comes right back. Even when Optimus isn't present, he's still a Hope Bringer.
• In Zombies Christmas Carol Scrooge's sister Fan was this in life, and his nephew Fred is seen as the last bastion of hope in the world through his cheeriness and goodwill towards men, regardless of their circumstances. In the end, Scrooge himself becomes this and is able to save humanity.

Fan Works

• Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): The moment Godzilla, the King of the Monsters himself, shows up at the Final Battle against Keizer Ghidorah (and in dramatic fashion too), it prompts a "Hell, Yes!" reaction from the onlooking humans within the USS Argo.
• All Assorted Animorphs AUs: When Jake learns that there are up to three Andalites out there fighting against the Yeerks in "What if they were caught during their first mission?", it gives him the hope that the war isn't as one-sided as the Vissers want everyone to think.
• Victoria is described this way in All This Sh*t is Twice as Weird. Being the compassionate All-Loving Hero of the group, she's big on giving people second chances; Blackwall describes her as "rare." As she herself points out to Cullen, Hope is literally her middle name.
• The protagonist Asher Walters in The Chronicles of Utopia is the Knight-Errant of Furyondy and one of Veluna's best generals. Rising through the ranks during the two world wars against the Big Bad he manages to turn the tide and ultimately defeat the massive army of darkness poised to wipe out all life on the planet, though it does require the help of the gods in the end to pull it off.
• Code Prime: Optimus Prime is constantly described and praised as one throughout the series. His ability to inspire hope in others is perhaps the greatest reason neither Britannia nor the Decepticons have won yet. Lelouch, Kallen, Ohgi, Nunnally and C.C. are just a few to have their spirits lifted by the Autobot leader, never-mind his fellow Autobots. Then Optimus obtains a Geass of his own which enhances this quality, giving him the knowledge of exactly what to say to ignite the hope within people's hearts.
• Each of the "protagonists" of Dangan Roleplay becomes this over time, enough that Monobear stopped listing "optimistic children with ahoge" as a dislike in his profile. Round 1's Jimmy was a contagious optimist to begin with, but Round 2's Beat and Round 3's Haruka had to grow into it; Haruka goes as far as promising to be Dave's hope during his Heroic BSoD, which extends to being hope for the rest of the surviving class, too.
• Dangan Ronpa: Assassinating Friendship plays with this in several ways:
  • The death of Tanaka Gundam winds up motivating Ryoma and Maki to try and find another way out of Vorpal Pier, rather than simply participating in the mutual killing game or giving up entirely. This is helped along by their Final Speech encouraging not to succumb as he did.
  • Komaeda Nagito is eager to find somebody good enough to become this. However, he holds all candidates up to impossibly high standards; any sign of wavering or despairing at their circumstances causes him to dismiss them as 'hopeless garbage'.
  • Unlike other Monokumas, the one hosting this game claims to be looking for Hope rather than Despair, wanting to see whether any of the participants can rise above the circumstances of both their checkered pasts and the killing game itself.
• Dedicated Hearts made Fullmetal: Edward and Alphonse Elric become this once they arrive in the Attack on Titan world for the people of Paradis, as their knowledge and skills quickly begin to tip the scales of the war against the Titans in their favor. However, after the timeskip it's shown that the most extremist factions aren't happy with the fact that they want to end the conflict with as little bloodshed as possible, even though they could theoretically crush their enemies with relative ease.
• Happens twice in Equestria: A History Revealed, in which Celestia's speeches and very presence is said to return hope to Equestria during troubled times, namely being the reconstruction period after the Age of Discord, and during the Equestrian Civil War.
• Fallout: Equestria:
  • DJ Pon3 names Littlepip "Lightbringer," and tales of her exploits inspire the Wasteland. Wherever she goes trouble follows, but the net result is usually good. There's definitely overlap with The Dreaded here, as enemies start to react in fear whereas allies gain hope.
  • Fallout: Equestria - Murky Number Seven: Murky is a slave who barely even understands the concept of choice, has been beaten down his entire life, and has been thrown into a gladiator arena where he will invariably be horribly killed. And then he witnesses Littlepip fly out of the arena, saving the slave who had been trying to kill her in the process. This becomes the impetus for him to finally do something for the first time in his life.
    Murky: Amongst the drifting dust of the telekinesis spell, her horn bursting with overglow, Number Three ascended to the air above, taking with her the zebra that had so badly wounded her. A nimbus of magic surrounded them both as she flew directly upwards and away from all the blood... all the death and pain... away from slavery and to her glorious escape. Such courage in the sight of Red Eye himself! I could hear the bloodthirsty crowd bellowing in protest and shock; the griffons opened fire in vain, their bullets missing her at every turn like fate and destiny themselves guided that little mare unharmed. An angel blessed by the Goddesses, a lightbringer whose ray of hope speared through the darkness and lit a fire in my heart.
• Deconstructed in Izuku Midoriya the Rabbit. Izuku sums up the problems with hope bringers: that they may give people a false sense of security and stop them from realizing they are in danger and need to act.
  Izuku: If there's a fox in your burrow, feeling safe will get you eaten. Being scared when there could be danger is important. If the rabbit watching for danger acts like it's ok then everyone gets eaten.
• In I Am Going To Save And/Or Destroy Equestria, this is the title character in a nutshell: After a year with Celestia and Luna both dead and gone, the fiends of Tartarus are loose with no one to stop them... until the main character is brought back from the dead.
• In Fall of Starfleet, Rebirth of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle. She returns at the Darkest Hour, and the moment anyone just see her they know Conquest is going to lose.
• Fallen Kingdom takes place 20 years after Mario's death, and Bowser's Koopa Empire has conquered much of the Mushroom World. Because of the circumstances, Luigi's rebellious exploits give hope to the citizens for the first time in a long time.
• In Golden Threads Tie Us, Lucina is the one who rallies all together, keeps them alive and fighting, and makes them believe that victory against Grima is still somehow possible. Severa reckons Lucina is the only reason they didn't give up long ago.
  She wondered what their battle would be like without Lucina, and quickly dismissed the thought because they wouldn't be having a battle. She'd probably be dead, or close to it, a shell fighting for the sake of survival. What was it –- hope will never die? When Lucina proclaimed it, Severa could almost believe her.
• Heroes Never Die: Izuku is already starting to become this. During the USJ, he is impressed with Asui's courage, but when he stops being strong, she quickly breaks down. Part of what gets him to recover is the idea of all his classmates counting on him.
• In the Kim Possible / Green Lantern fusion fic In Blackest Night, Kim Possible is recruited into the Green Lantern Corps (forcibly separated from Ron Stoppable in the process) and at one point goes up against her old enemy Gill, now a Red Lantern, and her ring is losing power rapidly, down to 3.1%. Suddenly her ring reports "Power levels at 20%...at 37.8%...at 54.7% and rising..." and a voice above her calls out, "Can I get a Booyah?" Kim looks up and sees Ron Stoppable, clad in a Blue Lantern uniform, and her ring is now at 250% power.
  Ron Stoppable: That's right, KP! The bondiggety Blue Lantern of Sector 2814 is in the house!
• Knight of Death and Rebirth subverts the trope with Wilmarina Noscrim as in her original entry within Monster Girl Encyclopedia: Fallen Maidens. Her role as The Chosen One was imposed by her father to gain political support when she just wanted to be with her childhood friend, prompting her to eventually fall and become a succubus upon her defeat against Druella. It was only thanks to Lelouch (as Zero) this time around that she was more motivated to take up the role.
  • Lelouch as Zero instead takes up the role on Midgard, like he does in the war against Britannia back on Earth. His ability to resist demonic mana and conviction against the monsters' culture that is incompatible with those on Earth has prompted the Order to take advantage of his power. Even after Lescatie falls, the surviving uncorrupted beings are so inspired by him that they fight for him over the Chief God and any other Order Hero. Even people still on Midgard are inspired to rally under him, including a surviving human soldier from the Theocracy and a Succubus!Eristia, who is in love with Zero for his inspiration on her.
• One of the reasons Samantha Shepard is pardoned rather than being drummed out of the military/Spectres in Origins is because the Citadel Council and Trans-Galactic Republic authorities believe she still has the potential to be this, despite what she did during her Heroic BSoD.
• In The Other Side (memoriaeterna), after essentially the other half of the universe is killed by the Snap (Avengers: Infinity War), Peter Parker becomes Tony Stark's sole heir. With a controlling share of Stark Enterprises and the owner of basically everything the Avengers need to operate, Peter accepts the job with the goal of using his resources to undo the Snap even after Thanos destroyed the Stones. His determination to achieve this goal is particularly inspiring to Wanda and Doctor Strange, helping Wanda overcome the grief that triggered the Westview Hex and encouraging Doctor Strange to consider that this scenario may just be the 14, 000, 606th scenario he didn't see where they also won.
• Purple Days: It takes journeying through half the known world and most of the unknown, learning to live and die over and over, countless triumphs and screwups, heartbreak and glory, but Prince Joffrey Baratheon ultimately becomes the true warrior, king, and savior Westeros needs to end once and for all the horror of the Long Night.
• The Avatar in Reluctant Hero is the only one powerful enough to turn the tide of the war and restore balance to the world. When the newest one is found after a sixteen-year-long search, the Water Tribes and Air Nomads immediately celebrate.
• A Thing of Vikings: Sigvatr brings hope to Mildew's imprisoned thralls when he informs them that Harthacnut is dead and that Hiccup the Hero of Berk is on his way.
• The Victors Project: Various victors (most notably Bovina) are this to their districts in the aftermath of winning, due to the year's supply of food this guarantees their district. Elena becomes this due to her Star-Crossed Lovers romance breaking the cycle of racial hatred in her district (to the point where the Capitol kills half of her family just out of spite for her using the Games to accomplish something positive). Honorius is a villainous version, giving the Career tributes an honorable (albeit sadistic and Darwinistic) view to fight for.
• The Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Torchwood crossover "Welcome to the Rift" has Buffy serve as a variation of this to the Torchwood team when she reveals her own experience of the afterlife; when Torchwood's own experience of death has only suggested that there is nothing but darkness and something hunting the deceased, hearing Buffy confirm that she has experienced Heaven gives Jack in particular hope for something better if he should finally die.

Films — Live-Action

• The 12th Man: Jan surviving and escaping from the Nazis for so long heightens the Norwegian populace’s faith in the courageousness of their own people and fallibility of the Nazi occupiers. A frustrated Major Stage notes that Graffiti of the Resistance is on the rise and sometimes refers directly to Jan.
• Leonidas from 300. He does this by dying. But then, that was The Spartan Way.
• In Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers couldn't reverse the damage Thanos has inflicted upon the entire universe in Avengers: Infinity War, and spend a 5-year Time Skip in various states of despair trying to cope with the aftermath and move on. It was only when Scott Lang showed up at their doorstep (complete with a plan to undo everything Thanos has done) that made them realize they have a second chance and take up arms again.
• The Batman (2022): Batman is not this through most of the movie. The primary driver of his campaign is indiscriminate terror. This leads to him unwittingly creating a much more brutal copycat in The Riddler and his followers. Batman's character arc in the film is realizing that he needs to stop using fear and violence as his main tools and become a symbol of hope for the innocent and downtrodden people of Gotham. This is represented by his final act of heroism in the movie not being beating a criminal to a pulp, but acting as a beacon for civilians trapped in flooding waters, leading them to safety.
• The protagonists of Children of Men, and specifically the young mother with her baby, are this for the entire world, as no one has given birth in nearly 20 years. Near the end of the movie they stop a shoot-out between the army and some terrorists by simply walking nearby.
• Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy.
• This seems to be the role of the emerging superheroes in the world in the DC Extended Universe, which starts out as a rather dark, gloomy place, and (though supers, especially Superman himself, at least initially cause fear and mistrust in people... with some push from certain people such as Lex Luthor) eventually becomes much brighter and hopeful. Superman's death and exoneration in the public eye (once Lex's plot has been revealed) at the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice seems to be a catalyst for this, as even those who initially criticized him came to realize just how important he was, and his sacrifice inspires and springs other heroes (Such as older, previously jaded heroes like Wonder Woman and The Batman, or other new heroes like The Flash) into action.
  • It should be said, though, that the horrifying, parademon-infested, post-apocalyptic world ruled by an evil Superman Bruce sees in his Knightmare in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zack Snyder's Justice League, somewhat justifies that initial fear, and shows it could have gone either way had Batman and Wonder Woman not allowed themselves to hope again.
• Ghostbusters:
  • In the original movie, the titular heroes arrive downtown at the climax at the apartment building where all the supernatural havoc are emanating from the cheers of hundreds watching.
  • In the sequel, when they arrive to take down the slime barrier covering the museum that is the bad guy's base, their proton packs aren't enough to dent it as the barrier feeds on negative emotions, like the despair people are feeling in this Darkest Hour. They need a symbol to impact their fellow New Yorkers. They choose to use good slime to animate the Statue of Liberty.
    Spengler: We need something that everyone can get behind, a symbol —
    His eyes fall on ECTO-2's New York State license plate which features a line drawing of the Statue of Liberty.
    Stantz: (he sees it, too) Something that appeals to the best in each and every one of us —
    Spengler: Something good...
    Winston: Something decent.
    Venkman: Something pure.
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): Mothra and Godzilla are this. In the face of King Ghidorah taking control of the other Kaiju and commanding them to begin wiping out all life as we know it, the humans realize that with Godzilla having been seemingly killed by the Oxygen Destroyer earlier, there's no way to stop the omnicide. Then along comes a metamorphosed Mothra, showing that Ghidorah doesn't have control of all the monsters and that Mothra is willing to oppose him, and moments later, the human cast realize from her arrival that Godzilla is still alive and there's still a chance to save the world.
• Jakob from Jakob the Liar ultimately serves as a deconstruction of the trope. Set during the 1940s during World War II, Jakob fills his fellow Jews with hope over news that the Russians will soon liberate them from the Ghetto, telling them he got the information from his "secret radio." In truth, while the initial news is true, it eventually snowballs into him having to fabricate news to keep up the charade. This torments Jacob because his newfound status puts him at risk of being arrested by German soldiers, but at the same time his lies actually give the Jews inspiration to live on and the suicide rate drops.
• Neo in The Matrix. At first, only Morpheus believes it and the rest go along with it because they have nothing better to try. But eventually, people rally around Neo as a real source of hope.
• By Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man was this for NYC.
• In all of Star Trek's many incarnations, one starship comes immediately to mind...
  Science Officer: Sir, there's another starship coming in! It's the Enterprise!
  • Among the crew of the original Enterprise, James T. Kirk takes this function, as when he takes the Enterprise back in Star Trek: The Motion Picture
    Uhura: Ensign, the possibilities of our returning from this mission in one piece may have just doubled.
  • While not explicitly stated, in the alternate timeline depicted in Star Trek (2009), the dimensionally displaced Spock Prime is clearly happy to meet this timeline’s version of James T. Kirk, observing that it is “remarkably pleasing” to see him again and expressing complete faith that this young, inexperienced version of his oldest friend will be able to prevail against Nero despite the insane Romulan’s use of future technology.
• Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. This is why the first movie was eventually retitled from simply Star Wars to Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
  • Made explicit in Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, when the repercussions of this are explored. Initially, Obi-Wan was thought to be the Hope Bringer, but he found the real new hope in Luke and decided to sacrifice himself to help Luke escape from the Death Star.
  • Luke was following in the footsteps of the main characters in Rogue One. When their achievement ends up in the hands of Princess Leia, she describes it as "hope". Sadly, none of them live to celebrate their achievement.
  • At the end of The Last Jedi, Luke finally returns to bring everyone their hopes back and he ensures that his legacy will be the same.

Literature

• In A Brother's Price, Cira kisses Jerin and tells Jerin that he gives her hope. Mostly because they've been imprisoned by the villains, and Jerin has remarkable lockpicking skills. But she seems to mean it in a more metaphorical sense, too.
• In The Codex Alera's sixth book, First Lord's Fury:
  • The titular First Lord, having returned from a mission abroad, is this to his nation under siege by a Zerg-like enemy known as the Vord. Using magic to make images of himself in every pool of water in the nation, he announces his return, gives the poor and defenseless of his people permission to accept the clemency the Vord Queen offers so they won't die from starvation or her forces, threatens nobles who try that with treason, and counters the fear-induced message the Vord Queen sent out before about the futility of their fighting her. Even his political enemy, the man leading the nation while the true First Lord was away, and former Big Bad, before the Vord came into the picture, is impressed.
    "Granted, his display of power was impressive..." Aquitaine shook his head, his expression reminding [her] of a man preparing to eat something he found distasteful, "Not impressive. Inspiring. His words to our own people meant more than a simple declaration of his presence. He brought them courage. He brought them hope."
  • Isana of Calderon Valley, a small domain in the middle of nowhere, started off as a simple commoner, but throughout the books, she gained political power and strength by allying with various nobles who also want to use her rising celebrity. By the time civil war breaks out in the series, she is the only person of noble rank who is actively working to help feed the refugee crisis developing from the brutality of war, and with the revelation that she is the late beloved Princep's lawful wife, she becomes this to any commoner who dreams of rising above his or her place. In the final book, she even weaponizes this status when captured by two powerful enemies the Vord Queen and a human who serves the Vord. The human woman needs the Queen to survive a deadly poison in her body. Isana gives her hope of not only being free from the Queens's power by telling her of a magical cure-all that grows near the Vord Queen's private chambers, but if she turns against the Vord, she could be a heroine and beloved by many in the realm. It works.
• The Divine Comedy: The "living fountain of hope" for mortals is the Virgin Mary, who intercedes on behalf of any who would plead to her to the Emperor of the Cosmos. She even anticipates the needs of those on Earth and heads their prayers before they can speak them, allowing untold graces to turn the most unworthy into saints who sing the Virgin's praises alongside the armies of the angels.
• In Dragon Bones, unbeknownst to himself, Ward is considered a bringer of hope by the dwarves. They only have a vague prophecy, and he is the first member of the male line of his family since generations to have considerable magic abilities. (Magic isn't that rare in general, but it is in his family) He also becomes this to Oreg, his slave, who eventually comes to trust Ward to do the right thing. The right thing, inconveniently, is to kill Oreg to make the castle to which Oreg's life is bound collapse, and bury the eponymous dragon bones under it, along with the villains who were searching for those bones. Oreg wanted a Mercy Kill for a long time, but up to then, no one was selfless enough to do it — the collapsed castle is Ward's home.
• In The Dresden Files:
  • In Ghost Story Molly notes that Harry is this for the little guy in the supernatural world. He scares off so many power dark things from Chicago and as a Warden, taught the Paranetters how to band together to be able to take on stronger forces. His death is therefore somewhat more than just a murder mystery: him dying caused problems all throughout Chicago, as a result of the power vacuum of the Red Court vanishing, the heaviest hitter for the "good guys" dying, and people losing hope.
  • Sanya, Knight of the Cross, wields the sword Esperacchius, the Sword of Hope, which contains in its hilt one of the nails that pierced Christ at his Crucifixion. His presence alone can give even the most cynical fighters a sense of hope and the idea the day may be saved. He also walks with the hope of redemption for his foes the Denarians because he too was one before walking away.
  • Archangel Uriel is this when Harry was at a low point, seeing Mab over him proclaiming her victory and malevolent plans for Harry to become her own monster and there was nothing he could do. Uriel gives Harry hope that he can remain who he is and still be the Winter Knight.
  • Mother Summer, the Progenitor of Life, assures Harry he can choose to resist the pull of the Winter Mantle and remain himself. Her words also seem to imply any mortal who is given the Mantle of the Sidhe has the same choice.
  • Kringle, King of Winter, as Santa Claus is the manifestation of hope in the darkest parts of winter.
• Paul Atreides/Muad'Dib in Frank Herbert's Dune. Or he was a cynical Manipulative Bastard who used his charisma to get primitive folk to follow him, took over the universe by threatening to destroy it, and forcing a princess to marry him whom he intended from the start to treat dreadfully. Preceded by Imperial Planetologist Pardot Kynes, who gave the Fremen the idea that bringing water to Arrakis was possible in the first place.
• Saint Sabbat in the eponymous "The Saint" arc of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels, especially the arc finale Sabbat Martyr where she appears in the flesh. Even her spiritual presence is noted for inspiring the Imperials to acts of conspicuous valor, but when she arrives in person on Herodor she acts as a hope bringer on a grand strategic scale. The Imperials' resolve combined with Chaos knowing about her tactical and religious significance leads to a victory where a few thousand troops literally prevent the doom of the entire Crusade.
• The Discworld novel Hogfather, where the avatar of Death has to dress up as a Santa Claus Expy, discusses and somewhat deconstructs this trope. It explains that belief is an integral part of hope, but also that belief is stronger from an unfulfilled wish than a fulfilled one because the less one has the stronger their hope of getting something can get.
• In The Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss Everdeen (and President Snow) eventually realizes she has become this to the Districts, the spark that finally leads to actual uprisings and full-scale rebellion.
• Druss in David Gemmell's Legend invokes this as much as he can. His role in the main conflict is not as much killing enemies (though he does well in that regard) but convincing soldiers that they are not doomed to fail, even when it sure looks like it. Various other characters also fit this role to a lesser degree.
• The Lord of the Rings:
  • Olorin, a. k. a. Gandalf, is a LITERAL Hope Bringer. It's said in The Silmarillion that whenever he walks among Men or Elves, he inspires hope and courage. Unfortunately, his tendency to come to people when things are about to go wrong is often misunderstood, giving him the reputation as a "Herald of Woe."
  • The Valar make Eärendil into one of these after he completes his epic voyage to Valinor. They turn his ship into a flying boat, and he is tasked to sail the skies forever carrying the Silmaril, appearing as a star of hope to all in need of it.
  • Aragorn was even named Estel when he was adopted by the Elves: the Elvish word for "hope". This makes him a literal as well as actual hope-bringer.
• Kelsier in the Mistborn books is a rather extreme example in that he set himself up as a martyr specifically to inspire hope in the downtrodden Skaa populace. He even informs the Lord Ruler at one point that he is hope.
  • Kelsier is a Decon-Recon Switch of the concept. The deconstruction comes when the confidence he inspires in the rebel troops, as well as his promise to share his power, encourages their leader Yeden so much that he tries to raid a local garrison. Everyone who went on the raid died pointlessly, and the rest of Kell's crew give him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Reconstructed when his Heroic Sacrifice spurred a majority of the Skaa in the capital to take arms in a fight that they could win. When the world starts going to hell, his memory encouraged the Skaa to keep living and fighting back.
    • Technically the Skaa in the capital taking arms was a fight they couldn't win because Lord Ruler could have easily killed every single one of the Skaa on his own. If Vin hadn't killed Lord Ruler it would have stayed as one serious downer of a deconstruction.
• Momo: Even before the paranormal conflicts start, Momo's willingness to simply listen to anyone does a lot to allay people's fears and worries.
• In Those That Wake, Laura is this to Mal. By the end of the series, she becomes this for the world.
• Rand al'Thor in The Wheel of Time has always had shades of this, being the Chosen One meant to stop the Dark One from destroying reality. In some ways, he is also a Deconstruction because of the chaos he causes and his growing insanity/ruthlessness. After Rand's mountaintop epiphany, he enters full-on Zen Jedi Master Mode.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who:
  • The Doctor themself, much to their own surprise, has become this after untold centuries travelling the universe fighting evil. No matter the odds, no matter how unstoppable the Evil Plan of the day is, as long as the Doctor's around, there's hope.
    • The TARDIS, specifically, her characteristic vworping sound, as described by the Moment. Usually, because she's bringing the Doctor.
    • Not everyone sees him this way, however, such as the one-shot character from the Ninth Doctor's debut who believes his appearance to be a Portent of Doom. And he's not really wrong, even if he's got the cause and effect backwards: The Doctor might be there to render aid, but if he's not Late to the Tragedy then his appearance is a big hint that things are going to get a lot worse before they start to get better.
  • "The Doctor Dances": Rose Tyler becomes this to Nancy, a young woman living in London during the Blitz, after revealing that she's a time traveller from the future and telling Nancy that Germany doesn't win World War II.
• The Flash:
  • Barry Allen/The Flash is this to the people of Central City. When he fully reveals his existence to the whole city, he embraces this. This can be especially shown in "The Man Who Saved Central City".
  • Jay Garrick, who's actually Zoom, a Hope Crusher. He impersonated Garrick, a genuine hero, with the aim of inducing hope in others so he could have the pleasure of taking it away. However, after his death, the real Garrick's freed, and he resolves to give the finger to Zoom by continuing the heroic work he didn't get the chance to wreck.
• Jim Gordon is this in Gotham. He manages to gradually erode Bullock's cynicism, bringing him up to Knight in Sour Armor status, and also inspires his Captain by example. It's something of a Foregone Conclusion that he will eventually do this for the entire GCPD.
• This is a theme of the heroes of Kamen Rider in general. As stated in the Manga section:
  "Won't you believe in him? Even if there is no God or Buddha... there is Kamen Rider."
  • Kamen Rider Wizard explicitly revolves around hope, as despair makes certain people turn into monsters called Phantoms. Haruto's main job is to keep hope alive for people at risk.
    • Haruto, in turn, has his own Hope Bringer: In the tie-in movie The Fateful Sengoku Movie Battle, Haruto manages to stop an Evil Doppelgänger of his friend Koyomi by telling her that she always gave him hope, and always will no matter what form she takes.
  • In Kamen Rider Gaim, Mai tells Mitsuzane that she and their mutual friends trust Kouta and he gives them hope in the current crisis. Unfortunately, Mitsuzane has slipped into madness by then and decides that if Kouta, and hope along with him, are killed; then everyone will turn to him as their savior.
• Revolution: Charlie's actions lead to the slaves being freed in Episode 2, La Résistance getting an advanced weapon (a sniper rifle) in Episode 3, children being rescued from indoctrination by the Monroe Republic in Episode 7, her brother Danny finally being rescued in Episode 10, and a scientist and his family being saved and released in Episode 16.
• Cameron, of all people, in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. After saving John and Sarah and seeing them on the run and living in fear she leads them to something the human resistance sent back: hope. In this case, a time machine, if they want to stop Skynet this is the way, stop running, stay in one place, fight.
• Smallville: In "Absolute Justice", Doctor Fate sees this in Clark when he predicts the future in which Clark finally becomes Superman:
  Doctor Fate: And when you show yourself to the world, it will be a different age than ours, Clark. A Silver Age of heroism, that will start when they look up into the sky at you with hope for tomorrow. And you will help everyone to embrace it.
• Wallenberg: A Hero's Story: Wallenberg. As Baroness Kemeny put it:
  Baroness Kemeny: Monsignor Rotha told me something this afternoon that moved me very deeply. He said the Nazis' greatest victory was convincing the Jews that they were doomed, but that you changed that for thousands of them.

Music

• In the animated video for Disturbed's cover of "Land of Confusion", their mascot, The Guy, managed to turn people, who were previously running away and hiding from evil soldiers, into an angry mob who beat the hell out of their former oppressor, attack ONZ headquarters, punish corrupted politicians and bind the Anthropomorphic Personification of Greed, who is then killed by The Guy.
• Moses in Peter, Paul and Mary's "Man Come into Egypt".
• The Megas: Proto Man was originally created to do this, and he's really upset about being shut down before he could (he eventually realises he wouldn't have been a good fit for the job). Decon-Recon Switch version with Mega Man, who brings hope to the world, but until his He's Back! moment in History Repeating — Red, he has trouble bringing it to himself; after that, he moves from just restoring hope in general terms by blowing up Robot Masters to actually helping members of his family deal with their problems.
  Proto Man: He said to me, that I would be, that I would be the light when they couldn't see, that what they need, is a machine, who would give them hope, who would keep them free...
• The unnamed female singer (who may or may not be Roll) in The Protomen's previews of Act 3 appears to be at least trying to slot herself into this role, with all of her major appearances so far consisting of trying to restore hope to someone. This is particularly obvious with her effect on Dr Light in "Hold Back the Night", who goes from a despair-fuelled rant to echoing her, even if he's still not entirely sold.
  UFS: But I know a hero will come! Someone's got to-
  Light: And all of your heroes are gone! No one left to-
  Both: Bring back the light...
  UFS: And I know he won't fight alone!
  Light: A darkness will block out the sun...
  Both: If we can't find a way to hold back the night...
• Barry Sadler's "The A-Team" references the trope name almost directly. It's about a twelve-man Special Forces unit who "bring hope when they are seen".

Myths & Religion

• The Bible:
  • Moses to the enslaved Hebrews in the Tanakh.
  • Jesus in the Christian Testament.

Pro Wrestling

• Lots of top faces have played this role, such as Hulk Hogan with his "power of the hulkamaniacs" leading to his Heroic Second Wind sequence, Sting in the rafters when the nWo were running over WCW and John Cena during his "Never Give Up" or "Rise Above Hate" phases.
• Ohio Is For Killers and Jessicka Havok became such in CZW and WSU as the main opposition to DJ Hyde's takeover of both promotions, especially in the former where he demanded worship.
• ROH Glory by Honor XI was titled "The Unbreakable Hope" on the fact everyone was betting on Michael Elgin to beat Kevin Steen for the World Title after the combined forces of SCUM and The House Of Truth seemed incapable of holding Elgin back for long. For naught though as Steen would find a way to win a little after the thirty-minute mark.
• Glamour Boy Shane's campaign against Monster Pain and Mistress Glenda Lee in the World Wrestling League was done not only for himself but to inspire the people of Puerto Rico, at least until it got derailed by "agent Haas's" attempts to have him deported.
• Caprice Coleman had a new message in 2014 after being ranked among the top ten Ring of Honor Wrestlers, paraphrased as if you're down and you need a sign, look to him.

Tabletop Games

• To restore her Glamour stocks, a changeling can inspire a mortal to create an artwork. Each changeling has a specialty through which she elicits an artist to create great works that produce Glamour. This usually reflects the way the changeling herself is inspired in life. One of these ways is to create hope: an optimist at heart, the character tries to evoke hope in others. He may help someone out of a situation that seems hopeless or find a new solution for the Dreamer that has lost hope and belief in herself. Even in horrible circumstances, greatness can be brought forth when someone has been given hope.
• The Child of the Sun in Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine is the new goddess of the sun and the literal embodiment of hope. Her Basic Quest is about bringing light to others, and she has the power to radiate a field of hope wherever she goes.
  The Light of Hope: You're the light of hope now. You've got to do your mother's job. That means shining on the darkness in people's lives — not necessarily to fix them, but to give that darkness a bit of the endless light and warmth that you have inside you.
• This is a game mechanic in Deadlands. The monsters grow more powerful in areas overwhelmed with terror. By killing them and then revealing what they were and how they died, the player characters can bring hope to the Weird West, weakening the forces of evil in the process.
• In 5th ed. Dungeons & Dragons, there's a place that is the Hope Bringer. In the adventure book Journeys Through The Radiant Citadel, the Radiant Citadel was a long-lost artifact Citadel City in the Ethereal Plane that was rediscovered by a benevolent ancient Brass dragon and the surviving heroes aiding her. Now reactivated, the city is a sanctuary for refugees, a holy site for its near-divine Dawn Incarnates and a wilderness preserve as the city's heroic Shieldbearers are sent to rescue those in danger and reclaim lost knowledge. Or a dimensional portal to the city sometimes manifests to those who need help. Either way the Radiant Citadel is a welcoming safe harbor for those arriving.
• The Solar Exalted excel at this, whether by Training the Peaceful Villagers, curing the plague in an hour, or kicking the living hell out of the bad guys. Infernals are a twisted version; while some (especially ones who favour Cecelyne) can bring food, favours, and defenses, there are some pretty awkward things in the fine print (which, to be fair, they're not actually required to use). Abyssals are an inversion; they're Despair Bringers.
• New World of Darkness fangame Princess: The Hopeful is all about being this trope in a world where evil has been winning for an eternity and a half.
• In the grim darkness of Warhammer 40,000:
  • The God-Emperor of Mankind is this to Humanity and the Imperium of Man, unifying the fragmented species against the horrors of the universe. Unusually for this trope, he's also a bloody-handed authoritarian despot and a really terrible father.
  • The Space Marines are this to the Imperial Guard and common civilians when shit really hits the fan... unless they've been called in to perform Exterminatus. Or they're one of the more brutal Chapters.
    Once, we prayed for the Emperor to send us His Angels. Now, we pray he never does so again.
  • There exists a literal embodiment of the emotion of hope. He's better known as Tzeentch, the Chaos god of mutation, sorcery, and backstabbers. Explains a lot, really.
  • This is how the Tau see themselves, and to be fair, they can be — as long as the people they're bringing hope to are willing to join the Tau Empire. Otherwise, they're Scary Dogmatic Aliens. Some of their underlings did sign up because the Tau offered them some kind of salvation or protection; others joined because the Tau offered them the choice between membership and death. (And for a lot of species an option that isn't death is better than, say, the Imperium offers.

Video Games

• You are this in the Ace Combat games, which most noticeably began in Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies. The radio chatter makes it very clear that everyone thinks your appearance guarantees a victory on your side.
  • From Shattered Skies as well, Yellow Squadron, more specifically Yellow 13, was this for the enemy.
  • Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown even makes it an in-universe catchphrase: "Stick with Trigger, and you'll make it."
  • In Ace Combat Infinity, Reaper becomes this for the Allied ground forces, gaining a reputation for ensuring minimal casualties.
• In Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, both Raven and Rusty fill this role in the Liberator of Rubicon ending. Ayre uses your status (and name) to gather allies in the penultimate mission.
  Ayre: I took the liberty of using your name to rally allies to our aid: "Beyond scorched skies, Raven fights on." No one has shaped Rubicon's destiny as much as you have. Come and see what the name Raven means to them.
• Raphael, from Baldur's Gate III, fancies himself as a hope bringer, offering succor to those in the most need, such as yourself and your companions when dealing with illithid tadpoles threatening to turn them into mind flayers. He ultimately subverts the trope, however, because he is a devil: for all of his honeyed words of helping others, his aid ultimately comes at a steep price, and most of your companions — especially Wyll and Karlach, who have had some less-than-stellar dealings with demons, themselves — will advise against taking him up on any offers he makes.
  Wyll: You might think you'd give up anything for a cure, but the devil won't just take anything. He'll take everything.
• As in other mediums, Batman is this in the Batman: Arkham Series. This is particularly shown in two entries. While he spends most of the game as a wanted fugitive who is feared by criminal and civilian alike, over the course of Batman: Arkham Origins as he saves more and more people, opinions begin to shift and he becomes this by the end. As for Batman: Arkham Knight, the Grand Finale, this is the very reason that Scarecrow does not want to kill him right away, believing that it will only turn him into a martyr. He needs to break him first to shatter the beacon of hope he is to the world.
  Scarecrow: How can the world know fear -– true dread -– when there is you? A stalwart knight, ever ready to slay monsters. Fear isn’t true biology, Batman. It’s more than instinct. True fear in the absence of hope...and hope is the spread wings of a bat, shining in the clouds.
• BlazBlue has its own in the form of Makoto Nanaya, whose presence in Kagutsuchi in Continuum Shift reinvigorates those who know her best to varying degrees. To drive the point home, her own Story in Extend is titled Slight Hope. Examples include improving Noel's mood in Desperation and instilling true courage in her in the month between Continuum Shift and Chronophantasma, causing Jin to stop thinking about his brother in proximity to her in Decision (though this wasn't the only force at work), and renewing Tsubaki's spirits in Slight Hope — the choice to interrogate Hazama after this last act caused Rachel to go out of her way to save her when Hazama's patience finally expired.
  • On the subject of Hazama, his plans for Jin, Noel, and Tsubaki involved breaking their spirits so they would serve his interests, and he intentionally sought to keep the girls isolated to make it happen. Allowing Makoto to contact them in that time frame would greatly sabotage his plans. Needless to say, they don't get along.
• Villainous version: Kane is this for the Brotherhood of Nod in the Command & Conquer: Tiberian Series. Whenever he resurfaces after having been thought dead, you can be sure of his followers' response: "Kane lives!"
• Danganronpa has quite a few of these, since its overall message is that humanity needs hope in order to continue moving forward.
  • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc has Makoto Naegi, who is pretty much the most optimistic member of the school and always tells people to never lose hope, even if Monokuma has been pushing them to just fall into despair already. He succeeded, making everyone stop playing Monokuma's game of murders, and his title changed from 'Super High-School Level Good Luck' into 'Super High-School Level Hope'. A contrast from the Big Bad, whose title is 'Super High-School Level Despair'.
  • Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls has Makoto Naegi's younger sister Komaru also become a bringer of hope, though mostly through circumstance. Big Bad Monaca intended for Komaru to become the new Ultimate Despair, but thanks to The Power of Friendship with Toko Fukawa, Komaru was able to snap out of it and derail Monaca's plan.
  • Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair has an instance that plays with this. The Hope Bringer here is not the main character, but Sonia Nevermind, the Spoiled Sweet Princess Classic. While Hajime is dealing with his own troubles and overcoming the mystery of the Deadly Game, Sonia rallies the other students into believing in the power of hope and urges them to fight against despair.
• Diablo's Auriel is the Archangel of Hope, so this trope is natural to her — several characters, angelic or otherwise, have their spirits renewed once she is freed from Rakanoth's clutches. The Nephalem, i.e. the player character, is also a hope bringer who inspires the human defenders wherever he or she goes to fight more effectively, by dint of being the only character in the series who isn't eternally too late to stop the demonic schemes.
• Doom Eternal: While most humans are scared shitless of the Doom Slayer, deep down they all agree that he might well be humanity's last hope against the Legions of Hell when they invade the Earth. Best exemplified with Dr. Elena Richardson, who goes from skeptical scientist to ardent believer in the span of two months after seeing how the Slayer alone is far more effective at fighting demons that humanity's most advanced weaponry and best trained armies.
• The Grey Warden is seen as one of these by most of the populace in Dragon Age: Origins. Hawke becomes this for the Fereldan refugees, then later most of the population of Kirkwall, and possibly most of the now-rebelling mages of Thedas by the end of the sequel.
  • This is really played up with the Inquisitor in Dragon Age: Inquisition. As "Andraste's chosen", the Inquisitor is this for the people across all of Thedas. Blackwall explicitly describes them as such, even if the Inquisitor doesn't personally believe. This is really displayed after the fall of Haven where, in the middle of their Darkest Hour, the people s/he helped save look upon and kneel to him/her with religious reverence.
• Dragon Quest:
  • Dragon Quest: After the Dragonlord had brought Alefgard and its people to their knees, killing every warrior who dared to defy him, the King of Tantegel had lost all hope of saving his kingdom and his daughter until the Hero appeared before him. Realizing he was the descendant of Erdrick foretold by the legends, the King's hope was finally rekindled.
  • Dragon Quest XI: Early on, the Luminary brings Rab and Jade the first bit of hope they've had in their quest in sixteen years just by dint of being alive — they thought he was long, long dead. After Mordegon claims the power of Yggdrasil and nearly brings the world to ruin, he becomes this to people as he reunites with his companions and defeats Mordegon's generals.
  • Dragon Quest Builders takes place in an alternate world where the Dragonlord from the first game succeeded, and not only destroyed human civilizations, but also destroyed their hope and creativity. So naturally, to restore creativity and civilization, the goddess Rubiss gives you the Banner of Hope and sends you forth.
• The Elder Scrolls
  • The (translated) lyrics to the title song for Skyrim play up the Dragonborn as this. The bard song "The Dragonborn Comes" does as well. A sample of the title track:
    Dragonborn, Dragonborn, by his honor is sworn,
    To keep evil forever at bay!
    And the fiercest foes rout when they hear triumph's shout,
    Dragonborn, for your blessing we pray!
  • In the series' backstory, the Snow Prince was one for the Falmer (Snow Elves) in their seemingly Hopeless War against the invading Atmorans (Precursors of the modern Nords), who were attempting to to outright drive the Falmer to extinction. After nearly wiping them out on the mainland, the Atmorans pursued the remaining Falmer to the barren, frozen island of Solstheim. During the Falmer's Last Stand at the Battle of the Moesring, the Snow Prince single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, killing many prominent Atmoran heroes in the process. His very presence inspired the Falmer to turn the battle from a sure rout into a near-victory, but he fell during the battle. His death (which, incidentally, the Atmorans themselves decided was worthy of a traditional burial, rather than burning him as they normally would for their fallen enemies) was what convinced many Falmer to turn to the Dwemer for help against the Nords, and the state of the modern Falmer shows just how that turned out...
• You can become like this to many in Fallout 3.
  • Harold from the same game is weary of his existence bonded to a tree and wants to die. You can convince him to live by pointing out that he is a Hope Bringer to the Tree-minders thanks to the greenery he is producing.
• One quest in Fallout: New Vegas is called "Restoring Hope", and it's Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• In Final Fantasy X the summoners act as bringers of hope as they go on their pilgrimages in a bid to defeat Sin and bring about the Calm. Unfortunately, it's a false hope since the Final Summoning that is used to slay Sin also ensures its rebirth. Yuna rejects this once she finds out the truth and resolves to find a real solution.
  • In the sequel, Yuna is even more so. Everyone knows that she is the bringer of the Eternal Calm — something once believed, with good reason, to be impossible — and most are in awe of her. When Vegnagun is threatening Spira, it is Yuna who convinces others to travel to the Farplane and fight it.
    Yuna: I'm tired of fighting battles which we have to lose in order to win.
• In the trilogy starting with Final Fantasy XIII, the ironically-named Hope Estheim was decidedly not this trope in the beginning, being horribly pessimistic. But as the story progressed, he learned to try and not let despair win and became a source of positive thinking for the group. Whenever things started looking down, he'd be the guy who'd say "Let's just give it a try, and things might turn out okay". In the sequel, he grew up to become the leader of the Academy and foremost pusher for its ideals of mankind marching towards a brighter tomorrow. In the time between that and the third game, in a Time Crash that made everyone ageless (but not invulnerable) in a dying world, Hope spent over three centuries assuring the rest of humanity that there was still a brighter future to strive towards, and this gave strength to people who would otherwise be lost in their respective hang-ups (Noel, Snow, and Sazh among them). When Hope disappeared 139 years ago, these ideals vanished with him, and the world seemed like a much darker place.
• The Warrior of Light of Final Fantasy XIV is directly stated to be this, acting as the primary shield against such threats as the Primals and the Garlean Empire. To only a slightly less extent, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn — an organization the player belongs to — also act as bringers of hope in tandem with the player, and were this before the Warrior of Light appeared in Eorzea.
• Marcus comes to be seen as this in Gears of War.
• Revealed in one of the most heartwarming moments in the game, and perhaps the whole series, in God of War Ragnarök: after sharing a fond farewell to his son Atreus as he leaves Midgard to search for the lost Giants, Kratos discovers a shrine neither of them had found. That's because it was one made by his late wife, Faye, and made for him. It details his arrival in the Nine Realms from his homeland of Greece, several important events of the last two games such as reaching Jotunheim and the clash with Thor, and ends with a mural depicting the Ghost of Sparta as one of these, a figure of reverence and worship across the Realms. After many games' worth of being treated as nothing more than an Ax-Crazy Blood Knight, Kratos' emotional reaction, even visibly crying, and his stunned words to his companions shows how strongly it affected him, to realize that yes, he was capable of being worshipped and loved as a god.
  Mimir: What did you see in there, brother?
  Kratos: A path. One I never imagined...
• Kat in Gravity Rush became this shortly after her debut as the hero of Hekseville, both from protecting people from the Navi threat and restoring missing pieces of the town (along with the people trapped in those pieces when they were taken away).
• Half-Life: Gordon Freeman does one better. He is seen basically as the second coming by Half-Life 2 (the little bible references like Judith Mossman betraying him (Judith is the female form of Judas) don't help stopping it).
• Halo: John-117, and to a lesser extent, all the other Spartans; the arrival of just one can lift an entire Marine company's spirit.
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has you what with being Immune to Fate. Fateweavers treat you like Jesus and people you help say they're happy to have met you. Considering how most quests would have ended had you not appeared, it's clear that Amalur was very, VERY, VERY close to becoming a Crapsack World.
• Knights of the Old Republic: Revan becomes this, then turns evil, then gets betrayed and mind wiped, then becomes this again. And then potentially sells the Republic out again.
• League of Legends:
  • Aatrox invokes but subverts this trope for the sake of increasing his power and sating his bloodlust; His appearances in history have him come and aid the losing side of a war by fighting back the enemies by himself and rallying them under his power. However, he brings too much hope, and eventually the formerly losing side turns the war from a counterattack to a massacre in which the individuals often don't realize how far they've gone until they're staring at the corpses of the enemy sides' innocent civilians.
  • Taric is a straighter example. If the Aspect of Protection shows up to rescue you, you're as good as saved. Absolutely nothing will stop him from coming to your side and deploying the stars themselves to bring you out unharmed. Thus far, (as far as we know), Aatrox and Taric have never met on the same battlefield, but when they do it should be interesting.
  • Braum is another straight example. A Freljordian folk hero, his stories may be a little exaggerated, but he embraces them because they encourage people to be kinder and more optimistic, a valuable thing in the harsh and war-torn Freljord.
  • Another subversion is Kled, whose backstory has him adopted as a Noxian mascot when he charges into battle, restoring the morale of a Noxian force ...which has only a few survivors, because it turns out racing into melee behind an Ax-Crazy Yordle with no strategy is not a good idea. Nor is he particularly eager to bring hope to people, given that he is a violently insane, ambiguously cannibalistic murder hobo.
  • Lux sees her role as this. Her endless string of upbeat, encouraging voice lines can sometimes get a little grating.
    Lux: We can do this!^note Jinx: Yeah! Wait, do what?
  • A third subversion is Tahm Kench, the River King, who gives people what they most desire...in order to feast on their despair, followed by the rest of them, when he takes it away again.
• Spyro in The Legend of Spyro series. The Dragons are on the verge of losing. Only Ignitus has escaped Dark Cynder's clutches, and he's left in a Heroic BSoD, hiding in a cave awaiting the end. Then Spyro shows up and gradually manages to convince everyone the war can be won.
• Link is frequently this in several of The Legend of Zelda games. Depending on the game, sometimes Zelda herself is too.
• Some see Commander Shepard as this in Mass Effect. Paragon Shepard is an indisputable example of this trope. It helps that s/he's such an extreme Magnetic Hero. This is particularly true with the krogan (through Wrex) and the geth (through Legion). After traveling with Shepard for a time, Wrex rediscovers his long-lost hope for the krogan people and decides to return to Tuchanka to make a second attempt to save his people from themselves (eventually becoming a Hope Bringer himself). Meanwhile, Shepard's interactions with Legion was the first time in 300 years that an organic ever interacted with the Geth with something other than hostility, bringing hope to the geth that peace could be made between them and organics, the quarians in particular. By the time the Reapers return in the third game and Shepard's actions are all vindicated, s/he becomes a symbol of hope to all of the races of the galaxy fighting off extinction. Admiral Hackett makes Shepard the primary face and leading vanguard of the war effort for precisely this reason.
  Hackett: You can pay a soldier to fire a gun. You can pay him to charge the enemy and take a hill. But you can't pay him to believe.[...] When you went up against Sovereign, there was no good reason to believe you'd win. But your crew didn't seem to care. They went along anyway. Your trip through the Omega-4 relay? That was a suicide mission if there ever was one. Yet there your crew was, standing beside you, proud to serve. Why? Because they believed in YOU, their leader!
  Legion: Hope sustains organics during periods of difficulty. We find the concept... admirable.
• In a very similar vein to Commander Shepard, Pathfinder Ryder in Mass Effect: Andromeda becomes this for everyone in the Andromeda Initiative. The plan to colonize Andromeda was fraught with adversity since the ark ships started arriving, with ships being crippled by the Scourge, the Golden Planets turning out to be inhospitable, the kett sabotaging every attempt at setting up settlements, and infighting reducing available manpower at the Nexus. Many started to believe they came to Andromeda, leaving behind their homes and families, in vain. When Ryder renders Eos habitable, however, hope begins to return...
• Mega Man Zero: La Résistance is facing extermination from a tyrannical government, so the Rebel Leader decided to find the legendary hero she believes will save them all: Zero.
• Nintendo Wars: Darkly subverted in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin in one mission with a religious faith healer who has inspired a band of survivors to come under his leadership join his cult worshiping "the worm", as it will cure the Creeping Derengea. When you finish the mission, you learn that the worm is literally an earthworm: said leader believes all is lost, humanity is doomed, and that nothing can save them from a slow, painful death, and so he gathered up infected survivors and deluded them into thinking they could still be saved so what little life they had left would be hopeful. The harsh irony is that at this point, Will and his allies actually did have the means to treat the virus — had the leader of the cult heard them out instead of just ordering his followers to attack, they could have all been saved.
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps: It's stated several times that Ori's arrival has brought back hope to the island of Niwen.
• Brought up near the end of Persona 5: Morgana was created by Igor from the collective unconsciousness's hope for freedom from oppression.
• Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon has the titular character, who through constant fighting to protect the Capital has become a potent symbol of hope. It's due to this that Shinado's Anger, a divine aspect of despair, continuously faces and taunts him to drop his title and duties, as they inspire too much hope for him to triumph. When that fails, Shinado's Anger starts dispatching assassins, which only further weaken him as they fall, strengthening Raidou and the people of the Capital's faith in him.
• The Boss is this for the Saints in Saints Row 2.
• Shin Megami Tensei IV's Main Character becomes this in the Neutral Route by helping as many people and demons as he can both in Tokyo and the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado, to the point of recreating one-third of a divine entity's power by the sheer amount of hope he inspires. Then he proves why he can generate so much hope by taking back the other two-thirds from the Seraph Merkabah and the Demon Lord Lucifer. At the end of the Neutral Route, the people of Mikado believe so much in him that they are ready to evacuate their kingdom at his command. The Hope Crusher White are utterly furious at him, as they wanted to break his spirit so he would never again seek any form of renewal or continuity, and keep throwing divine monsters and even Alternate Timelines in his path — fat lot of good it did to them.
  • Flynn still remains this trope in the sequel, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, and several characters in Tokyo are shown to adore him just as much. This is exploited by the Divine Powers, who kidnap Flynn early in the game and keep him hostage, only to replace him with their pet dragon, Shesha, who subsequently eats their souls once Merkabah and Lucifer are eliminated. The inspiration Flynn evokes in the Hunters actually makes it easier for him to pull their souls out of their bodies.
  • Cruelly deconstructed with Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne's Aradia. She's the False Goddess of Freedom and imparts hope unto her followers. Unfortunately, that's all she does. Her followers are blinded by the shallow and hollow hope she provides, causing them to stop doing things by themselves.
• Claude from Star Ocean: The Second Story ends up as this, much to his (initial) chagrin. Arriving on Expel as a "man in strange and foreign attire, wielding a Sword of Light" has many people declare him the Hero of Light. He eventually leans into it, despite still not believing himself up to the task, and even his descendants make remarks about being related to the Hero of Light.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: This is the way that the Jedi Consular comes across in their story. While the other Jedi class, the Knight, is more the sword of the Republic, defeating enemies and thwarting plans, the Jedi Consular rallies its people and uses their knowledge of the Force to drive the darkside back.
• Mario is frequently seen as this in his games. A lot of NPCs, especially in the Mario RPGs, will be worried and panicked until Mario shows up, at which time they express relief that he's there. Even if someone doesn't know who he is, they quickly learn. Sometimes, Princess Peach pulls this trope too, being beloved by all of her subjects.
• The Fatebinder from Tyranny is a dreaded Villain Protagonist, an agent of Evil Overlord Kyros, and one of the most capable conquerers of the Tiers. However, if they pull a Heel–Face Turn, they can become this. No matter how much they insist they are just doing it because they're sick of the Archons' stupidity.
• Asgore Dreemurr from Undertale is certainly an example of when this trope takes its toll on the bringer. Being the King of all Monsters, his main mission statement is to keep his people happy and in high spirits, and despite monsterkind being trapped underground by a magic barrier by humans long ago, he does so. He even manages to raise a happy family with his wife Toriel, his son Asriel, and an adoptive human child who fell into the Underground. Unfortunately, tragedy struck as his children devised a plan to cross the barrier and possibly destroy it, which resulted in the death of them both at the hands of humans on the outside, terrified of their monstrous combined form. In a fit of pure anger, he declared war on humankind, stating that all humans who enter the Underground will have their souls taken, used by him to become godlike, and break the barrier, setting the monsters free. He becomes the unanimous beacon of hope for all monsters but regretted his decision as soon as his anger calmed and realized what his choice entails. He doesn't want to cause harm or wage war on anyone, but he feels that it's the only way to give his people hope, and it tears him up inside, especially since his wife left him due to his decision.
• The Tenno become this for the debt-slave colony of Fortuna in Warframe, as the presence of even a single Tenno proved able to break the shackles of despair that had gripped Fortuna and its mayor-figure Eudico, prompting both her and Fortuna to fight back against their Corpus oppressors both in secret and more overtly. The knowledge that the single most lethal thing in the Origin System was supporting them proved enough to bring light to the hopeless, by means of doling out both revenge and justice upon the Corpus for their crimes.
• Rudy Roughnight from Wild ARMs to the point where (in a sidequest) he revives the Guardian of Hope. It's particularly notable in the remake where the sidequest involves returning to Surf Village where he was previously exiled. Rudy's unwavering willingness to protect the villagers, in his bleakest moment inspires them to help him fight the revived Rotting Beast via a Combined Energy Attack. After you defeat the monster for good you get the Hope Shard medium.
• The Commander from XCOM 2 starts as a Sealed Good in a Can who is broken out in the first mission by La Résistance. They promptly restore XCOM's effectiveness with successful missions against the aliens and establishes contact between all resistance groups on Earth to unite humans against the invaders.
  Spokesman: I had high hopes for the resistance under your leadership Commander, and you have outdone yourself.
• The nameless bystander inspires everyone he meets on his path to becoming a true hero in Zettai Hero Project.

Web Animation

• hololive: IRyS, a member of Hololive English, intends on bringing hope via The Power Of Music.
• RWBY: In the fight against Salem, Professor Ozpin is seen by others as one who has the knowledge and experience to give people the hope that they can prevail against her. Ozpin knows only too well the power hope gives people and therefore hides the Awful Truth about Salem from even his closest allies because he has seen first-hand how loss of hope destroys people. When the heroes find out, he becomes a Broken Pedestal until they learn for themselves the power of hope and despair. Ozpin himself sees others as a beacon of hope rather than himself, especially Ruby Rose, who inspires even him. Salem's own plans require her to crush the hope both Ozpin and Ruby symbolise to others, as her path to victory requires committing a Despair Gambit against the entire world.

Web Comics

• In The Beast Legion, Xeus is often referred to a Hope Bringer by both the prophecy as well as Master Surya. He is later given this title by the villagers he saves from Sglutton's tyranny in Chapter 9.
• In Holiday Wars, Tegan brings hope to those who have been fighting and losing the war against the Easter Bunny as can be seen in this episode.
• Pharaoh City in Lightbringer was a Crapsack World ruled by a gang known as the Slavers. Things had gotten to the point where they were able to kidnap and sell anybody including police officers and their families. When the titular character became a superhero, his first mission was to bring the gang down — which he did.

Web Original

• The Gungan Council has Bethany Kismet and Eden Kisori both acting for the inspiration of their respective groups of Jedi. While Beth frequently gave reason for pacifist Jedi to believe they could change the galaxy, Eden rallied more aggressive Jedi and inspired them to launch a crusade against the Sith and Empire.
• A very literal example in SCP-1281 ("Harbinger"): The Harbinger is a biomechanical drone created and sent out by a dying race. Its purpose was to learn the language of whatever creatures it encountered and tell them a message of hope, a message saying that though one light is small compared to the infinite vastness of the universe, it is still a light.
  This is our harbinger. It brings good tidings.
• In Worm, Scion is this, as depicted in his Establishing Character Moment. An Endbringer is attacking Brockton Bay and killing hundreds. Every parahuman for miles has shown up to fight it. Even the villains have established a truce to fight this Omnicidal Maniac that threatens them all. And then Scion arrives, and the despair that lifts off everyone at this is palpable. This trope is horribly subverted in the plot's finale, though.

Western Animation

• Avatar Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. The avatar's role down the centuries has always been to restore peace and balance, with plenty of power to back it up. Confirmation that Aang has returned alive is enough to bring immediate hope to the setting's war effort.
• Batman is this for the Gotham City Police Department (well, the non-corrupt parts) in Batman: The Animated Series and, later on, for the Justice League.
  • Superman is this for Metropolis, the Justice League, and the entire world.
• Terry McGinnis from Batman Beyond is also a great example to the point that in the opening after all the words showing how crapsack things are HOPE flashes onscreen after his face is shown.
• In Green Lantern: The Animated Series, the Blue Lantern Corps, whose rings are powered by the emotion of hope, and particularly Saint Walker, the first Blue Lantern.
• In The Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors, Sven inspires Celia to sing happy songs, which brings the Magic Trolls back to life.
• Ladybug and Cat Noir in Miraculous Ladybug are this for the city of Paris. They are so beloved that their mere presence against an akumatized villain is enough to rally the spirits of Parisians. One hero from the future even says that Ladybug will become legendary, able to inspire and lead an entire team of heroes to fight whatever is thrown at them. And win.
• The titular character of Samurai Jack is this. Aku had ruled the world for thousands of years, making life miserable for everyone on it, and it only spread through the galaxy. When Jack arrived in the future he began helping others, freeing them from Aku's rule and giving them hope. This is shown best in Season 5 where after spending 50 years in the future, Jack is no closer to getting home, every time portal has been destroyed, he has lost his sword and he has seen his quest as a failure and has begun to feel that there is no hope anymore. Everyone Jack has helped still believe in him though, even when he doesn't believe in himself, because he has still helped them even in his current state. Come the finale, Aku has finally captured Jack and plans to broadcast his execution to kill everyone's hope, but instead everyone Jack has ever helped forms into an army to storm Aku's fortress and rescue Jack.
• She-Ra in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is this, for the world but especially the other princesses.
• Sonic The Hedgehog is this to the Freedom Fighters in Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), bringing hope to a world where Robotnik won. Despite his powers and personality, Sonic is both willing and able to get into and out of Robotropolis without using his powers at all, and shows concern for every Freedom Fighter^note that is, every Freedom Fighter except Antoine and is fully aware of how much they are risking their lives to fight. Case in point: to save the noncombatant refugees of Lower Mobius, he was willing to part with half of the Power Stone that makes his Power Rings, reducing them from being available every 12 hours, to every 24 hours. He did this despite the fact that their leader, Griff, tried to steal the stone.
  Griff: You're the best, Sonic.
  Sonic: I know.
• Two for one in Star Wars Rebels, with Ezra Bridger whose Rousing Speech gets broadcast and spread throughout the entire galaxy as a message to stand up against the Empire, and Sabine Wren, whose starbird sigils become an Icon of Rebellion in the same broadcast (to the point where the official Rebel Alliance sigil is a modification of it).

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