Basic Trope: A character is a coward but manages to accomplish daunting tasks despite their fear.
- Straight: Alice is a coward who wants no part in the hero business. When push comes to shove, she ends up fighting despite her fear to protect her friends.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is the type of person that freezes up when someone says "Boo". This does not stop Alice from defeating the Eldritch Abomination Big Bad all on her own.
- Downplayed:
- Alice is someone who would rather not risk her life trying to save others. That said, she still goes against the villains in order to make sure they don't hurt her friends.
- Justified:
- Fear Is the Appropriate Response. Even so, Alice knows that she has to power through before the situation turns even worse.
- Alice is afraid of dying. While Alice is scared, she knows that the sooner she can get rid of the threats to her life, the less she has to worry about.
- Alice is afraid of her own strength, being in a position where the villains are scary and her own powers are scary. That said, Alice would rather take the risk of using her powers than let the villains kill her friends.
- Alice's constant timidity means she's used to powering through fear, which she has to do on a day-to-day basis and which thus better prepares her to fight the bad guys.
- The reason Alice must now brave her fears is because Alice's younger brother is likely not capable of saving himself. Alice is still terrified, but will brave the nightmare for her brother. Taken even further, Alice is all Bob has left of family, so if she doesn't push forward, who will?
- Inverted:
- Alice seems like she has Nerves of Steel, but behaves like a Dirty Coward when push comes to shove.
- Alice is a Terror Hero.
- The horrors live in fear of Alice. When confronted with the horrors, Alice is less scared and more excited.
- Alice is Too Annoyed to Be Afraid, and the horrors cannot terrify her without pissing her off.
- Subverted:
- Just as it seems like Alice is about to face her fears, she ends up cowering behind her friends instead.
- Alice only has a reputation for being a coward. An undeserved reputation, which the villains quickly find out.
- Double Subverted:
- Alice just needed to take a few deep breaths to collect herself. Though she may have put her friends in danger for a moment, she gets out there and fights alongside them.
- After dispatching the villains, Alice has a Post-Victory Collapse where she reveals just how scared she was.
- Parodied:
- Alice is a Humanoid Abomination who is afraid of pretty much everything. When a tiny spider shows up in her house, Alice quakes with fear as she slowly puts it outside.
- Zigzagged: Alice is about to face the intimidating villain but ends up cowering behind her friends instead. She catches a deep breath and then charges at the villain, but then immediately runs away as soon as the villain looks at her. However, this is actually a Tactical Withdrawal as Alice begins sneaking up on the villain. She defeats the villain this time, but it's revealed that the party mage used Mind Control on Alice at the last second to make sure she didn't run away again.
- Averted:
- Alice is a Fearless Fool.
- Alice has severe Performance Anxiety that causes her to fail when her friends need her.
- Enforced: The writers want to give Alice a realistic sense of fear but know that if all Alice does is hide, this could cause her to become The Scrappy for the audience.
- Lampshaded: "I wonder how someone as cowardly as Alice can be so brave when she has to. She's just like a cowardly lion."
- Invoked: Alice knows full well that her visible fear causes her opponents to underestimate her. Because of this, Alice makes no attempt to repress her fear in order to surprise her enemies.
- Exploited: Alice's True Companions put her against the villain. As Alice looks like she's about to throw up from sheer fear, the villain unleashes a hearty Evil Laugh. This laughter stops as the villain realizes that Alice is charging him with her sword.
- Defied: When the villain shows up, the party mage uses a spell to temporarily make Alice a Fearless Undead.
- Discussed: "Alright, Alice doesn't seem too confident. We better figure out if she's a Dirty Coward or a Cowardly Lion before things get serious."
- Conversed: "This character used to get on my nerves for being so scared all the time, but that was before she proved that she could stand up and fight."
- Implied: Alice is a Lovable Coward who travels with the Heroes, although she's never seen fighting. One night, the sounds of a scuffle can be heard in the Home Base. When the heroes investigate, all they can find is a bit of blood and a scrap of fabric with the Big Bad's insignia. In the morning, the heroes find that Alice is injured, but she tells everyone that she just tripped.
- Deconstructed:
- The heroes see that Alice is a coward and do not bring her along despite The Prophecy because they think she will be more trouble than good. This results in a Total Party Kill during a critical moment because they lacked Alice's set of skills.
- Alice is able to step up to most villains, but when The Dreaded arrives, she freezes up and her inaction causes one of her friends to be killed in front of her. This makes matters even worse as she completely shuts down, blaming herself for her friend's death.
- Reconstructed:
- Despite being rejected by the heroes, Alice decides to brave through her fears and follows after them. When the party is on the verge of collapsing, Alice arrives Just in Time to rescue them. This display of bravery forever earns the rest of the party's respect.
- The villain taunts Alice over her friend's death. Rather than demoralize Alice, this causes her to awaken to a new spirit of Heroic Resolve, promising to never back down from a situation no matter how scary it is.
- Played for Laughs: Alice's cowardly nature is put on full display in a comedic fashion and her preferred method of defeating enemies are Zany Schemes that keep her far away from danger.
- Played for Drama: Alice is genuinely a coward and has to choose between quitting her heroic adventure in favor of saving her own life or fighting for the greater good, even if it means sacrificing her own life one day.
- Her friends are captured, and Alice is in this fight alone. The Horror that Alice is facing causes her to suffer a Heroic BSoD and shutdown for a brief moment. She isn't a fighter, and couldn't possibly beat the Horror in any form of combat. Alice then hears the scream of her friends in danger, and Alice trembles, but gets to her feet and uses the one thing she's good at: running. Except instead of running away, she runs around the Horror as it chases her. Absolute terror fueling her panicked speed, she focuses on hitting the release lever and saving her friends. The Horror fails to capture the terrified Alice as she is just too fast and unpredictable, and this allows Alice to reach the release switch and save her friends. Thanks to her getting her friends free, they can destroy the Horror. After everyone is okay and the Horror is dealt with, she faints, and her friends carry her out with them, thankful she was around.
- Played for Horror: Despite Alice consistently pulling through, she is genuinely not built for heroics. Every Near-Death Experience turns her more and more into a Nervous Wreck, making it only a matter of time before she breaks in a critical moment.
E-Even if it's really scary, I'll lead you back to the main page!
