History Characters / TheRisingOfTheShieldHeroThreeHeroes

* CreativeSterility: It never occurs to the other heroes that there is more than one potential strengthening method for the legendary weapons or work on their teamwork skills. Since their main strategy is AttackAttackAttack and never attempt to adapt their attack methods, they aren't especially good at creative thinking or adapting to a situation.

* ArcherArchetype: Invoked, as he is the Bow Hero.

* {{Manchild}}: Their tendency to treat their situation like a game makes them come off as this, though Ren and Itsuki at least have the excuse of being teenagers. Motoyasu, on the other, hand, borders on PsychopathicManchild due to his BlackAndWhiteInsanity and IRejectYourReality tendencies.

* NiceMeanAndInBetween: They all have a lot of collective flaws that make them more hindrance than help but this does apply on a personal level with them. Ren is Nice, being a TokenGoodTeammate against the other two and his biggest issue is being a SociallyAwkwardHero. Motoyasu is Mean, going out of his way to be as much of a headache to Naofumi as possible and being ruled by his vices. Itsuki is In-between, as he has far more faults than Ren but can keep some of his worse impulses in check unlike Motoyasu.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Even by the standards of the other Three Heroes, he is the most self-serving of the four heroes and first and most likely to commit murder. While Ren sincerely tries to be heroic, accepting some of his mistakes and Motoyasu genuinely cares for his harem despite his lecherous attitude, Itsuki has no redeeming qualities. He is the only one to be abusive to his party members, and is so insufferably arrogant he refuses to accept that he could do ''anything'' wrong despite the contrary evidence.

* CantTakeCriticism: Thanks to their egos, they don't take criticism well, constructive or otherwise.

* CrossingTheBurnedBridge: Specifically with Naofumi.

* ForWantOfANail: Especially in the manga. When they charge against the Spirit Turtle, they do manage to behead the beast. If it was like any other monster they'd faced before, this would have done the job nicely. Unfortunately for them, it's a powerful PuzzleBoss that requires [[spoiler: beheading and the destruction of its heart simultaneously or very nearly so]], which is something they could not pull off with their limited numbers and WrongGenreSavvy. The fall-out and aftermath get them HatedByAll.

** The Three Cardinal Heroes have multiple occasions of this, but the one that takes the cake happens when [[spoiler:they think that they can defeat a [[BonusBoss Gigantic island-mountain-shelled turtle]] called the "Spirit Tortoise" in order to make them look better than the Shield Hero. They charge ahead without any help, [[SuicidalOverconfidence thinking they can defeat it,]] and they fail ''[[EpicFail miserably]]''. The monster goes on a major rampage, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Once the public learns the truth, the trio is [[BrokenPedestal effectively dead]] in the hearts and minds of the people of the land as "heroes" anymore, leaving them with a small dose of what the [[HeroWithBadPublicity Shield Hero]] had to [[HatedByAll endure]] and [[SuperpoweredEvilSide suffer]] through near the beginning]].

* CripplingOverspecialization: His refinement method solely focuses on weapon mastery but he never uses any sword other than his Legendary Weapon. Therefore, his skill set is limited to the entirety of the Sword's skills and not much else. A lack of actual sword skills because of over-reliance on the Sword's inherent skills and abilities makes Ren easy to defeat by experienced fighters when all these advantages get taken away.

* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:Rather than take responsibility for his party being killed, he blames ''them'' for being too weak. He gets better after Naofumi and Eclair set him straight.]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: The anime makes it clear the three heroes think that the world they find themselves in is just a game, but the light novels have a slightly different take on it. They not only assume the world operates on RPG mechanics, but that everyone in it (other than their fellow heroes) are just {{NPC}}s and not "real" people. More to that, they're under the impression that if they die they'll just wake up in a hospital and be able to go back to work. When the writing starts to hit the wall that they need to buckle down and really improve, they're convinced that whatever fight they're losing is a HopelessBossFight meant to move the game's story along. Not that this makes their behavior any less idiotic or infuriating, but it does explain the sheer level of carelessness and dismissal they display for the world and people that are depending on them for survival.

* ColorCodedCharacters: Each of the Cardinal Heroes has their own associated color. Said colors are found on their armor, eye color, and the weapon gemstones. They provide the trope image for the Anime and Manga section.

* LeaderWannabe: Despite the fact that the Cardinal Heroes are assigned to be the leader of their respective parties, none of them are particularly skilled leaders. In addition to the aforementioned poor strategic abilities and arrogance, each hero has traits that make them poor leaders, (Ren is [[SociallyAwkwardHero socially distant and stunted]], Itsuki is an AttentionWhore who will [[BadBoss abuse those who don't praise him]] and Motoyasu is an [[IdiotHero idiot]] who is clearly [[AuthorityInNameOnly Malty's puppet]]).

* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: They quickly become lazy due to the advantages the kingdom gave them and failed to keep up with Naofumi or contribute to the waves.

* CloseRangeCombatant: Between himself, Itsuki and Motoyasu, he has the shortest attack range. Justified since Itsuki's status as the bow hero makes him a long range specialist and Motoyasu's spear gives him a longer attack range than Ren's sword.

* CorruptedCharacterCopy: Ren is [[{{Expy}} very obviously based]] on [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineKazutoKirigaya Kirito]] from ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'', being a dark-haired, sword-wielding hero who has NoSocialSkills, prefers soloing, is stoic and serious, dresses in black, and is even introduced to the story playing a VRMMO called "Brave Star Online". To drive the point home, he's also voiced by Creator/YoshitsuguMatsuoka, Kirito's Japanese voice actor, in the anime. However, the way he's written points out several glaring flaws in Kirito's character, as Ren is essentially what Kirito would be like if he didn’t bother to learn the systems of the world he’s in, never opened up to others or learned to work with other people, or work to get better, instead relying on raw force to get the job done.
* CripplingOverspecialization: His refinement method solely focuses on weapon mastery but he never uses any sword other than his Legendary Weapon. Therefore, his skill set is limited to the entirety of the Sword's skills and not much else. A lack of actual sword skills because of over-reliance to the Sword's inherent skills and abilities makes Ren easy to defeat by experienced fighters when all these advantages get taken away.

* EquipmentBasedProgression: His primary power up method. By increasing his levels, his swords got stronger too.

* HeroicSacrifice: How he died to be reincarnated. Ren [[http://www.mangahere.co/manga/tate_no_yuusha_no_nariagari/c004.5/2.html died protecting]] his childhood friend from a murderer on a killing spree.
* HopelessSuitor: Ren eventually falls for Eclair, who outright states that she's not interested in romance and that Ren isn't her type when Naofumi asks her. [[spoiler:It eventually proves to not be so hopeless in chapter 377.]]

** One of the power ups Ren has is that other forms of his swords get stronger as the heroes level up, but he only used one.
* MakeThemRot: While it's not a power Ren directly possesses, [[spoiler:he gains an uncontrollable form as a price for using the Gluttony Sword. For a while he cannot pick up any sort of precious metal or jewel because it simply rots away in his hand. This becomes a problem for his training and rehabilitation after losing his weapons and levels from the Greed curse. Ren is so worried about this that he refuses to carry Gaelion's egg in fear he'll kill the dragon before it hatches.]]

** [[IneffectualLoner Solitude]]. While he is in a team, Ren prefers to order his teammate to fight by themselves while he trains solo. Naofumi compares him to the guys who play MMO alone and have high pride in their abilities, which also makes them unable to work well with others.
** {{Greed}}: [[spoiler:One half of his Curse Series, with Gluttony as the other. Using the Greed Sword makes him into little more than a bandit attacking others for their equipment.]] Unlike most examples of this, it's less about him being money grubbing and more about him being so used to working alone, sharing rewards are fairly foreign to him.

* StopDrowningAndStandUp: When Ren refuses to answer when the other heroes suspect Ren is unable to swim, Naofumi tosses him off the dock. He struggles and falls under, even though the water is shallow enough for him to stand. In the manga Motoyasu and Itsuki grab his arms and throw him in to the same effect.

* SuperSpeed: The legendary Sword grants him the high speed stats of the four heroes.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Of the other 3 Heroes. He lacks Motoyasu's lecherousness and Itsuki's overwhelming arrogance and megalomania. While Ren does have his flaws, he is the one who consistently at least gives Naofumi the chance to explain himself and does not exploit his party members. Whenever the group gangs up on Naofumi, he usually is the only one who offers any sort of sympathy to him and defend him in some way. Even how he originally died speaks to having heroic impulses.

** He himself gets called out by Naofumi for blaming the deaths of his party members on them for being so weak. In reality, Ren went way over his head [[spoiler:trying to fight the Spirit Turtle head on]] with Itsuki and Motoyasu in desperation to prove themselves. Naofumi outright says Ren doesn't deserve to be considered a hero for his NeverMyFault attitude.

** Itsuki trusts Malty when she praises him as hero, even after her deception was revealed to him and the rest of Melromarc. To add insult to injury, Itsuki even trusts Mald who at that point ditched Itsuki to avoid being arrested and is clearly using him to gain fame of his own. This makes you question Itsuki's judgment when it comes to anyone praising him.

** In the web novel and manga, and during the Cal Mira arc. Seeing that Naofumi and his party had become the strongest of the four heroes despite his Legendary Shield's ([[SuperpoweredEvilSide mostly]]) non-existent offensive ability, Itsuki comes to the conclusion that the former had "met God" and had granted him the power to cheat. It's more blatant in the web novel, when Naofumi goes out of his way to ''explain'' how he and his party got so strong, but Itsuki's not having any of it. The "meeting God" thing is even based on a mere rumor from a ''game forum'', showing that Itsuki's '''really''' grasping at straws. Also slightly overlaps with IRejectYourReality since it's clearly a mix of [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]] and his own massive ego that's making him come to such a ridiculously stupid conclusion.

** In chapter 109 of the web novel, Naofumi confronts him after kicking Rishia out of his party in the most callous manner possible, and notes that Itsuki's so-called "Justice" was what compelled him and his party to treat her like a villain for just having sub-par stats. He points out how ridiculous his logic is, and Itsuki's response is, "A battle for the fate of the world cannot be won on feelings alone!"

** Chapter 109 of the web novel had Itsuki arrogantly reaffirm the trust between himself and his comrades, minus a recently kicked out Rishia. [[spoiler:Three guesses on who bails on him after the Spirit Tortoise incident, and who chose to stick by him at his very lowest.]]

** Implied when Naofumi tells him that his actions in assassinating a supposedly corrupt ruler didn't fix the high taxes and resulting famine, and that he was credited for it partly because he fed the starving refugees and that the latter was acting more like a stealthy Robin Hood-esque assassin. Itsuki's response was "Don't change the subject!".

** Pride: Itsuki is a narcissist who wants to be praised by everyone and has a massive ego especially as his status as a hero.

** Lust: Not love or more specially a love for power and praise which pretty much stems his lust for power and ego.
** Wrath: Gets enraged easily if he doesn't receive praise or when someone insults him as he took a shot at the back of Naofumi's head after he stated that his thought of Itsuki has dropped and became more enraged after Naofumi blocked his attack.

* SmugSnake: Itsuki has an over-inflated ego and fancies himself as being the ''perfect'' hero, when in reality he has shown himself to an ultimately incompetent person with the title of "Hero".

* {{Tyrannicide}}: Subverted. He believes in this trope, after all, take out the villain peace is restored to the kingdom always crops up in fiction. But when he applied that to reality, where things aren't so black and white, he ended up committing genuine {{Regicide}} instead, and left a nation having to continue the high taxes he was brought in to stop.

** Motoyasu's party is nothing more than glorified cheerleaders who provide support magic and look pretty. In terms of actual combat, it takes one hit to knock most of them down. [[spoiler:After they ditch him to save themselves from the Spirit Tortoise, he tracks down Elena, only for her to tell him point blank nobody liked him and they were all using him for his money and popularity. Meanwhile Malty and the other two girls turn coat and become wanted terrorists to avoid being caught.]]
** All Itsuki's group does is butter up his ego while indulging in their own selfish, Jerkass desires. Like Motoyasu's group, they're pathetically weak and can barely put up a fight. [[spoiler:They lose their hero status entirely when they join Malty's StagedPopulistUprising and manipulate a curse-controlled Itsuki to fight in rigged tournaments to win them money. In the web novel, all of members are tried and killed for betraying their Legendary Hero. In the light novel Mald and the others escape to join the Forces of the Waves, proving they are even worse people than Itsuki ever was.]]
** Zig-zagged with Ren's party members. While they are strong and genuinely want to stop the Waves, they have zero teamwork skills due to their leader's IWorkAlone tendencies, which leads them to losing just as many fights as the other heroes' parties, [[spoiler:to the point it gets them killed by the Spirit Tortoise.]]
* FairWeatherFriend: Due to the contradiction between their boorish personalities and prestige of being legendary heroes, this leads to them being surrounded by party members that are sycophants most of the time, yet when shit hit the fan, [[spoiler:literally in the case of the Spirit Tortoise]], they abandon the heroes without remorse and give a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that comes across as KickTheDog. Only Ren's party avert this, [[spoiler:and that doesn't even protect them from being killed.]]

* UndyingLoyalty: {{Zig Zagged Trope}}. Most of them started out as loyal to their particular hero to various degrees. But as time passes the heroes' specific neuroses starts to affect their followers differently, from Motoyasu's party pretending to like him, to Itsuki's party becoming dogmatic [[KickTheDog puppy kickers]]. Both parties end up abandoning the two heroes the first chance they get. Ren is the only one to have a party genuinely loyal to him.

* EvilIsPetty: Mixed with AmbitionIsEvil. [[spoiler:It's partly what motivates him during the Three Heroes Church uprising, that and his hatred of demi-humans. He hates the "Demon of the Shield" and the other "fake" heroes because his reputation plummeted following Itsuki's failure to stop the Spirit Tortoise. Meanwhile, Naofumi's reputation soared as he not only helped defeat it, but also helped countless others through his peddling of much needed goods. Mald's actions in trying to kill him and his followers is both motivated out of pure spite and a selfish desire to be seen as the epitome of "Justice".]]

** After using Itsuki to make money and spending it all, he left him with the bill.

* {{Narcissist}}: His status as a noble proves this as he sees everyone lowlifes who are beneath him. Mald only uses Itsuki to advance his own agenda and treats Naofumi and his party like dirt, which usually ends up with him getting his ass kicked in fights.

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the Manga, she's a red-head. In the anime, she has light-brown hair.

* BrokenPedestal: Elena was genuinely attracted to Motoyasu at one point. However due to his incompetence, she lost all attraction to him.

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: She regrets joining Motoyasu rather than Naofumi at the beginning of the story because while Motoyasu started out as the strongest hero, he didn't put in any effort to ''keep'' being the strongest. Naofumi on the other hand clawed his way out of the mud with nothing but hard work and determination, and it wasn't long before Motoyasu was eating his dust. Ironically, her admitting this makes Naofumi realize it would have been a terrible idea to make her a teammate when he first came to Melromarc, since she was more concerned with picking the winning side and being pampered without putting in any effort herself.

* LazyBum: Elena doesn't really care about the fate of the world, and only became an adventurer to gain business opportunities and live a luxurious life.

%%* PrettyFreeloader: She played this role most of the story under Motoyasu. But in reality she was keeping an eye on Malty, and following Motoyasu to gain business opportunities for her family. It's partly because of this that Naofumi's grateful she ''didn't'' join him at the beginning.
* TheSmartGirl: She is easily the smartest member of Motoyasu's party by far. She is a gifted business woman, and Motoyasu and Malty really should have let her be in charge of the finances.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: After Motoyasu and his party are branded as criminals for the Spirit Tortoise fiasco, Elena is only able to avoid jail time with her parents business connections and making a deal with the Queen to set up a trap to let Naofumi catch Motoyasu.
* SitcomArchNemesis: She strikes this relationship up with Naofumi. For example, Naofumi only agreed to work with her to increase her work load.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: In the web novel, she and her party are assigned to Naofumi on Cal Mira. She makes no secret that she dislikes him, but still makes an effort to work together (unlike her teammates) because she respects his strength and business acumen.

* BirdsOfAFeather: [[spoiler:When Rino reveals her true colours and allegiances to Naofumi and Co mid-battle, she does so via stabbing Malty and delivering a merciless beatdown with the stolen Whip Vassal Weapon that Bitch was using. This demonstration of anger and rage towards her abuser impresses Naofumi, as he finds it comparable to his own negative emotions towards the ex-princess. He semi-seriously considers forming a support group with her as fellow victims of Malty, and even offers her to join his party as a reward in the aftermath. Both Raptalia and the Revived Female Demon Dragon are concerned by how quickly Naofumi bonds with this newcomer, due to their issues with making any headway with Naofumi on a romantic front, and Naofumi's usual trust issues with strangers. For her part, Rino gladly accepts his offer, and even seems to bond with Naofumi as an actual friend rather than a potential Love Interest.]]
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Invoked. [[spoiler:Rino is well aware that Malty has screwed over so many people in her life that she can't possibly recognize all of them. She uses this to approach her former teammate and integrate herself into Matly's inner circle without fear of being recognized until Rino reveals her true allegiance once she's best in position to take revenge. It works like a charm, which speaks more to the sheer volume of people Malty has abused over the years more than anything.]]

* MadeASlave: Malty sells her as one, and when she begs for help, Motoyasu was in the other room, but figured that it is a standard hentai catchphrase she's using.

A noble woman and a member of the Spear Hero's party. She was Malty's accomplice in many of her crimes.

* OnlyFriend: She and Malty are probably the only friend both of them have. It is implied that this is one-sided and Malty sees Lesty as just another pawn in her manipulations.

* SpoiledBrat: Along with being a RoyalBrat. She comes from a noble family, and spends most of her time whining when things don't go her way. Combined with their similar appearances, one could mistake Lesty and Malty for sisters, and explains why the two are considered friends (at least to Lesty).

[[Characters/TheRisingOfTheShieldHeroMainCharacters Main Characters]] ([[Characters/TheRisingOfTheShieldHeroNaofumiIwatani Naofumi Iwatani]]) | [[Characters/TheRisingOfTheShieldHeroAllies Naofumi's Allies]] | '''Three Heroes and Allies''' ([[Characters/TheRisingOfTheShieldHeroMotoyasuKitamura Motoyasu Kitamura]]) | [[Characters/TheRisingOfTheShieldHeroAntagonists Antagonists]] ([[Characters/TheRisingOfTheShieldHeroMaltyMelromarc Malty Melromarc]]) | [[Characters/TheRisingOfTheShieldHeroOther Other Characters]] ]] -]]]