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* In ''Literature/SmallPersonsWithWings'', Chief Wright and his daughter Eileen walk into the pub to find a woman (actually an enchanted mannequin) with her head falling off. They both faint.
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* "The Spy's Retirement" by Jon Courtenay Grimwood begins with a StagedPedestrianAccident whose effects include a woman fainting in shock at the victim's injuries. The narrator, who's already suspicious of the situation, notes that she faints very gracefully and falls in a way that prevents her getting hurt. At the end of the story, when she realizes the scam's been rumbled and they're all about to be arrested, she faints for real, much less gracefully.
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* ''Literature/DoomValleyPrepSchool'': This happens at least once, when [[spoiler: Ella]] is surprised to see Petra with male equipment. She only passes out for a few seconds and is embarrassed afterwards. When she sees it again a little later she is just turns away while blushing.
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* ''Literature/TheFinishingSchoolSeries: Dimity faints for real every time she sees blood. --The girls are also taught to FakeFaint properly, so a habit of really fainting stands out.
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* ''Literature/TheFinishingSchoolSeries: ''Literature/TheEnchantedFiles'': In ''Diary of a Mad Brownie'' / ''Cursed'', Ms. Kincaid (Destiny's teacher) passes out moments after she touches Angus's hand and confirms that he's real.
* ''Literature/TheFinishingSchoolSeries'': Dimity faints for real every time she sees blood.--The The girls are also taught to FakeFaint properly, so a habit of really fainting stands out.
* ''Literature/TheFinishingSchoolSeries'': Dimity faints for real every time she sees blood.
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* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Bad news usually causes Bella to collapse. As does Edward kissing her, once. And a teeny tiny drop of blood. And a few other things.
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* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'': Bad news usually causes Bella to collapse. As does Edward kissing her, once. And a teeny tiny drop of blood. And a few other things.
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* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'': PlayedForLaughs. Duchess Millidiana Claes, while accompanying Geordo in his marriage proposal to her daughter Catarina, finds her daughter ''farming''. The Duchess immediately faints upon seeing such unladylike behavior from her daughter.
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* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'': ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'': PlayedForLaughs. Duchess Millidiana Claes, while accompanying Geordo in his marriage proposal to her daughter Catarina, finds her daughter ''farming''. The Duchess immediately faints upon seeing such unladylike behavior from her daughter.
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* ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': During the island getaway episode, the shy time-travelling Mikuru faints promptly upon seeing the stabbed body of the mansion owner, and stays out of the action for a while under Yuki's supervision, providing Haruhi and Kyon an excuse to go exploring alone together.
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* ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'': During the SOS Brigade's island getaway episode, getaway, the shy time-travelling Mikuru faints promptly upon seeing the stabbed body of the mansion owner, and stays out of the action for a while under Yuki's supervision, providing Haruhi and Kyon an excuse to go exploring alone together.
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Examples from Fainting wicks.
* ''Literature/TheBeastsOfClawstoneCastle'': Major Hardbottom faints when he first meets the disembodied feet.
* ''Literature/LesColombesDuRoiSoleil'': When the girls are told that one of their teachers was poisoned and are pressured for a confession, Isabeau faints. The teachers mistake this for an admission of her guilt.
* ''Literature/TheCorpseOfCharlieRull'':
** Cynthia's mother faints when she sees [[spoiler:what Charlie did to her horse.]]
** Two reporters covering the cops' battle with Charlie at the end faint after witnessing [[spoiler:the severed upper body of Charlie continuing to crawl forward even after the sergeant shoots him in half.]]
* ''Literature/TheCorpseOfCharlieRull'':
** Cynthia's mother faints when she sees [[spoiler:what Charlie did to her horse.]]
** Two reporters covering the cops' battle with Charlie at the end faint after witnessing [[spoiler:the severed upper body of Charlie continuing to crawl forward even after the sergeant shoots him in half.]]
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* ''The Last Test'': In this Creator/HPLovecraft work, Georgina overhears a conversation late at night that leads her to believe that [[spoiler:her brother is involved in carrying out brutal human experiments and savage sacrifices]]. The thought of this increasingly terrifies her until eventually she faints while lying in her own bed, and remains in her dead faint until the next morning. After she awakens, she mistakenly believes that what she overheard and subsequently thought late last night was a dream (since they were the last things she remembers before waking up in the morning). It's not until noon, when she personally witnesses [[spoiler:a subject being captured in front of her]], that she realizes that the conversation last night [[ThatWasNotADream was real]], upon which she instantly faints once again and does not wake up until late into the afternoon.
* ''[[Literature/{{LesMiserables}} Les Misérables]]'': Fantine faints upon realizing that Mayor Madeleine is a genuinely kind man who is willing to help her reconnect with her estranged daughter Cosette.
* ''[[Literature/{{LesMiserables}} Les Misérables]]'': Fantine faints upon realizing that Mayor Madeleine is a genuinely kind man who is willing to help her reconnect with her estranged daughter Cosette.
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* ''The Last Test'': ''Literature/{{Kasia}}'': Kasia faints after almost getting run over by Connor's car. The main story starts because he takes her home to get her out of traffic.
* ''Literature/KristinLavransdatter'': Kristin faints at a party when she sees Erlend for the first time after many weeks of longing--in front of her fiance and his entire family.
* ''Literature/TheLastTest'': In this Creator/HPLovecraft work, Georgina overhears a conversation late at night that leads her to believe that [[spoiler:her brother is involved in carrying out brutal human experiments and savage sacrifices]]. The thought of this increasingly terrifies her until eventually she faints while lying in her own bed, and remains in her dead faint until the next morning. After she awakens, she mistakenly believes that what she overheard and subsequently thought late last night was a dream (since they were the last things she remembers before waking up in the morning). It's not until noon, when she personally witnesses [[spoiler:a subject being captured in front of her]], that she realizes that the conversation last night [[ThatWasNotADream was real]], upon which she instantly faints once again and does not wake up until late into the afternoon.
*''[[Literature/{{LesMiserables}} Les Misérables]]'': Fantine faints upon realizing ''Literature/{{Laura}}'': Waldo collapses when [[spoiler: he sees Laura alive. (The entire plot to this point has been investigating her ''murder''.)]] He says that Mayor Madeleine is a genuinely kind man who is willing it's epilepsy and runs in the family.
* ''Literature/LessonsForAPerfectDetectiveStory'':
** Several overly emotional wives faint when they learn that their husbands have been murdered.
** Tenkaichi tends tohelp her reconnect with her estranged daughter Cosette.faint when he's scared.
* ''Literature/KristinLavransdatter'': Kristin faints at a party when she sees Erlend for the first time after many weeks of longing--in front of her fiance and his entire family.
* ''Literature/TheLastTest'': In this Creator/HPLovecraft work, Georgina overhears a conversation late at night that leads her to believe that [[spoiler:her brother is involved in carrying out brutal human experiments and savage sacrifices]]. The thought of this increasingly terrifies her until eventually she faints while lying in her own bed, and remains in her dead faint until the next morning. After she awakens, she mistakenly believes that what she overheard and subsequently thought late last night was a dream (since they were the last things she remembers before waking up in the morning). It's not until noon, when she personally witnesses [[spoiler:a subject being captured in front of her]], that she realizes that the conversation last night [[ThatWasNotADream was real]], upon which she instantly faints once again and does not wake up until late into the afternoon.
*
* ''Literature/LessonsForAPerfectDetectiveStory'':
** Several overly emotional wives faint when they learn that their husbands have been murdered.
** Tenkaichi tends to
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* ''[[Literature/{{LesMiserables}} Les Misérables]]'': Fantine faints upon realizing that Mayor Madeleine is a genuinely kind man who is willing to help her reconnect with her estranged daughter Cosette.
* ''Literature/{{Murderess}}'': Lu faints when she goes after ‘Hat Lad’ on the train and finds only his blood-soaked hat.
* ''Literature/{{Murderess}}'': Lu faints when she goes after ‘Hat Lad’ on the train and finds only his blood-soaked hat.
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* ''Literature/RisingXRydeen'': Most girls who get covered in Takara's white, slippery "gel", which is NotWhatItLooksLike, pass out in sheer shock and disgust.
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* ''Literature/StephaniePlum'':
** Stephanie will occasionally faint when presented with a fatally dangerous situation, or when she has just escaped one.
** Tank, a hardened ex-military bounty hunter, faints after getting accidentally engaged to Lula. Not so much due to the engagement, but the idea of Lula in a wedding dress.
** [[DumbMuscle Cal]] loses consciousness after Valerie's water breaks all over him and he is treated to a full view of her delivering a baby.
** Stephanie will occasionally faint when presented with a fatally dangerous situation, or when she has just escaped one.
** Tank, a hardened ex-military bounty hunter, faints after getting accidentally engaged to Lula. Not so much due to the engagement, but the idea of Lula in a wedding dress.
** [[DumbMuscle Cal]] loses consciousness after Valerie's water breaks all over him and he is treated to a full view of her delivering a baby.
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Examples from Fainting wicks.
* ''Literature/TheHouseWithAClockInItsWalls'': In ''The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer'', Lewis's babysitter Gloria faints when she hears that his parents have died.
* ''Literature/TheMunicipalists'': PlayedForLaughs -- OWEN quickly discovers that all the violence and gore in the classic Gangster & Western movies he's watched haven't prepared him to observe when Henry has to treat the injuries he sustained in Biggs' failed assassination attempt. The AI simply [[AfraidOfBlood can't stand the sight of]] Henry's puncture wounds and it briefly overloads his circuits.
--> "It looks like you've got this covered," he said. "So I think it'd be best if I just--"\\
Before he could finish his sentence, he turned into a French bulldog and fainted.\\
He lay their motionless in his dog's body with his tongue hanging out. Above him in bold white text was a slowly rotating error message.
--> "It looks like you've got this covered," he said. "So I think it'd be best if I just--"\\
Before he could finish his sentence, he turned into a French bulldog and fainted.\\
He lay their motionless in his dog's body with his tongue hanging out. Above him in bold white text was a slowly rotating error message.
* ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'': Dorian faints at a dinner party that he is hosting after he looks out of the window and sees James Vane, who has threatened to kill him, lurking outside.
* ''Literature/ThePitAndThePendulum'': The unnamed protagonist faints when he learns that he's been condemned to death.
* ''Literature/ThePitAndThePendulum'': The unnamed protagonist faints when he learns that he's been condemned to death.
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* ''The Tummy Beast'': This poem by Creator/RoaldDahl ends with the eponymous beast speaking, then the protagonist saying, "Now do you believe me, mummy?", only to find his mother unconscious on the floor.
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* ''The Tummy Beast'': ''Literature/TruemanBradley'': After a scene in which Trueman almost misidentifies the person he's looking for, chases him through an airport, and then jumps off a roof, Trueman faints because all the unexpected events finally got to him.
* ''Literature/TheTummyBeast'': This poem by Creator/RoaldDahl ends with the eponymous beast speaking, then the protagonist saying, "Now do you believe me, mummy?", only to find his mother unconscious on thefloor.floor.
* ''Literature/TwelveDays'': The television interviewer faints when the ex-governor and drug lord Ramone Quinones dies during a live interview On December 14.[note]Two days into the advertised appocalypse, where "The sinners" are expected to die.[/note]
* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Bad news usually causes Bella to collapse. As does Edward kissing her, once. And a teeny tiny drop of blood. And a few other things.
* ''Literature/TheTummyBeast'': This poem by Creator/RoaldDahl ends with the eponymous beast speaking, then the protagonist saying, "Now do you believe me, mummy?", only to find his mother unconscious on the
* ''Literature/TwelveDays'': The television interviewer faints when the ex-governor and drug lord Ramone Quinones dies during a live interview On December 14.[note]Two days into the advertised appocalypse, where "The sinners" are expected to die.[/note]
* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Bad news usually causes Bella to collapse. As does Edward kissing her, once. And a teeny tiny drop of blood. And a few other things.
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* ''Literature/TheWitches'': The unnamed protagonist (quite understandably) collapses when he realises he's trapped in a room full of women who would gladly do horrible things to him if they find him. He's not wrong.
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He is called Sivard (Sivardus) in Gesta Danorum.
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* ''Literature/GestaDanorum'': When Odin makes snakes appear on the eyes of the boy Sigurd Ragnarsson, Sigurd's nurse faints in terror at the sight.
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* ''Literature/GestaDanorum'': When Odin makes little snakes appear on in the eyes of the boy Sigurd Sivard Ragnarsson, Sigurd's an old woman acting as Sivard's nurse faints in terror at the sight.
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** Years later, she mentions having fainted after she locked herself in her room following her husband Edgar's confrontation with her beloved Heathcliff.
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** Years later, she mentions having fainted after she locked herself in her room in anguish and anger following her husband Edgar's confrontation with her beloved Heathcliff.
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* ''Literature/WutheringHeights'': The sick and pregnant Cathy faints when her tumultuous [[spoiler: last]] meeting with Heathcliff is interrupted by her husband Edgar's return. Only with great effort do Edgar and Nelly manage to revive her, and even then she remains delirious [[spoiler: until she [[DeathByChildbirth dies in childbirth]] that night.]] Earlier, she also mentions having fainted after she locked herself in her room following Edgar's confrontation with Heathcliff, and earlier still, when the Lintons' dog bites her ankle as a child, she faints from the pain.
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* ''Literature/WutheringHeights'': The sick Catherine Earnshaw faints several times:
** As a child, when the Lintons' dog bites her ankle, she faints from the pain.
** Years later, she mentions having fainted after she locked herself in her room following her husband Edgar's confrontation with her beloved Heathcliff.
** Finally, while gravely ill andpregnant Cathy pregnant, she faints when her tumultuous [[spoiler: last]] meeting with Heathcliff is interrupted by her husband Edgar's return. Only with great effort do Edgar and Nelly manage to revive her, and even then she remains delirious [[spoiler: until she [[DeathByChildbirth dies in childbirth]] that night.]] Earlier, she also mentions having fainted after she locked herself in her room following Edgar's confrontation with Heathcliff, and earlier still, when the Lintons' dog bites her ankle as a child, she faints from the pain.]]
** As a child, when the Lintons' dog bites her ankle, she faints from the pain.
** Years later, she mentions having fainted after she locked herself in her room following her husband Edgar's confrontation with her beloved Heathcliff.
** Finally, while gravely ill and
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* ''Literature/WutheringHeights'': The sick and pregnant Cathy faints when her tumultuous [[spoiler: last]] meeting with Heathcliff is interrupted by her husband Edgar's return. Only with great effort do Edgar and Nelly manage to revive her, and even then she remains delirious [[spoiler: until she [[DeathByChildbirth dies in childbirth]] that night.]]
to:
* ''Literature/WutheringHeights'': The sick and pregnant Cathy faints when her tumultuous [[spoiler: last]] meeting with Heathcliff is interrupted by her husband Edgar's return. Only with great effort do Edgar and Nelly manage to revive her, and even then she remains delirious [[spoiler: until she [[DeathByChildbirth dies in childbirth]] that night.]]]] Earlier, she also mentions having fainted after she locked herself in her room following Edgar's confrontation with Heathcliff, and earlier still, when the Lintons' dog bites her ankle as a child, she faints from the pain.
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* ''Literature/WutheringHeights'': The sick and pregnant Cathy faints when her tumultuous [[spoiler: last]] meeting with Heathcliff is interrupted by her husband Edgar's return. Only with great effort do Edgar and Nelly manage to revive her, and even then she remains delirious [[spoiler: until she [[DeathByChildbirth dies in childbirth]] that night.]]
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* ''Literature/AliasGrace'': Grace Marks faints frequently, at situations such as [[spoiler:being sentenced to death]] or [[spoiler:running for her life and hearing a gunshot that she mistakenly believes has hit her]]. Her most significant faint, however, is when she faints [[spoiler:from the grief and shock over the traumatic death of her dearest friend Mary]]: she stays completely out cold for ten hours, during which no one could wake her, before briefly waking up, evidently [[spoiler:possessed by Mary's soul]], and promptly passing out yet again, staying gone for almost as long.
* ''Literature/AndHeBuiltACrookedHouse'': Mrs. Bailey repeatedly faints throughout the adventure in the tesseract house.
* ''Literature/AreYouThereGodItsMeMargaret'': Nancy faints in panic [[spoiler:when she gets her period for real]]. Margaret isn't amused, as Nancy has been ''claiming'' to have already dealt with this situation in a bid to brag about her own maturity.
* ''Literature/BarkGeorge'': When the vet pulls the cow out of George, the pup's mother faints dead away.
* ''Literature/TheBippoloSeedAndOtherLostTales'': Discussed in the story "Steak for Supper" involves six strange creatures following a little boy home. He fears that his "mother would faint and [his] father would roar" if they saw the creatures. Thankfully, the creatures run away, so the mother remains conscious and the father keeps quiet.
* ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'': Wilbur is prone to this:
** He faints when he overhears the humans talking about killing him for bacon and ham; the farmhand Lurvey revives him [[WaterWakeUp with a bucket of water.]]
** He faints from StageFright when he receives his medal at the county fair; this time [[YouDirtyRat Templeton]] revives him by [[AttackTheTail biting his tail]].
* ''Literature/TheChinaBride'': Has Troth faint at the sight of a man who looks exactly like her deceased husband. It is not until she revives that she discovers that he is actually a twin that she never knew about.
* ''Literature/DaisyHeadMayzie'': Downplayed. In the book, Mrs. [=McGrew=] ''says'', "I'm going to faint" when she sees that her daughter has a daisy growing from her head, and she's illustrated looking woozy, but she remains conscious. In the AnimatedAdaptation, however, she does pass out.
* ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'': Not even ''personally witnessing'' [[spoiler:her mistress Linnet being presumably shot and killed by her own husband Simon]] can prepare Louise Bourget for actually ''seeing'' the gruesome sight of [[spoiler:Linnet lying dead in her bed with a bloody wound in the head]] the following morning. The poor maid screams and runs out of [[spoiler:her mistress's]] cabin before flopping unconscious into the arms of a steward on the deck.
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': In the first book, Greg passes out when he realizes he accidentally put his thumb on [[NoseNuggets snot]] that Fregley left on a letter for him.
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidCabinFever'': In a flashback, Greg passes out ([[WingdingEyes with X's for eyes)]] when he finds a puzzle box full of crickets.
* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'': Dante faints a few times:
** Near the beginning of ''Inferno'' when crossing the Acheron to the first circle of hell because he's so shocked by how horrible the first tortures are.
** In the circle, for those who succumbed to Lust. There he meets a couple who are the Romeo and Juliet of his time. This one is triggered mainly by empathy, as he himself had loved a woman from afar his whole life.[[note]]combined with a possible FanGirl episode . . . they ''were'' pretty famous[[/note]]
** He faints again towards the end of ''Paradiso'' as he approaches the end of all desires.
* ''Literature/DontCallMeIshmael'':Ishmael faints during his first debate because he is so nervous. Everybody else thinks it's hilarious, as Ishmael also [[ThanksForTheMammary accidentally gropes]] his LoveInterest Kelly as he faints.
* ''Literature/DonQuixote'': Many, many characters faint, but the most significant faint has to be Luscinda's. Already having agreed to marry her beloved Cardenio, Luscinda is placed under immense duress when her parents make her marry the nobleman Fernando instead. On the day of the wedding, Luscinda hides a dagger on her body, as well as a letter explaining that her loyalty belongs to Cardenio and that she plans to kill herself. During the wedding, however, Luscinda is unable to defy the pressure and ends up following through with the exchanging of vows and consents to the marriage in a weakened and dismayed voice. [[DespairEventHorizon Realizing the finality of the situation]], Luscinda faints on the spot. Not only does this cause Cardenio to storm out of the wedding feeling betrayed, but Luscinda's suicide plan is also foiled as both her suicide note and her dagger are discovered and removed from her unconscious body. Her despair is so great that she does not wake up from her faint until the following day.
* ''Literature/DoubleStar'': The heroine faints quietly and without fuss after an intense scene which probably means the ruin of all they've been working for. Later another character reveals precautions have been taken and they're safe - whereupon she faints ''again''. Still, given what's at stake and the extended strain she's been under it's hard to blame her.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' Jonathan Harker pulling one of these fairly early on. He has just been overtly harassed by three beautiful vampire-ladies ''and'' [[HoYay apparently his own host.]]
* Literature/{{Dragonlance}}: In the novel ''Dragons of Winter Night'', the elven princess Laurana faints at a public banquet after her father [[SlutShaming calls her a whore]], and her older brother gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
* ''Literature/DrGretaHelsing'': [[spoiler:Leonora van Dorne]] takes a ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney attitude to life's problems, but collapses when she gets her first glimpse behind the {{Masquerade}} and sees a {{Mummy}}. Fortunately for her, the mummy is of the [[NonMaliciousMonster non-malicious]] stripe and catches her, though not without a bit of ironic lurching.
* ''Literature/TheFinishingSchoolSeries: Dimity faints for real every time she sees blood. --The girls are also taught to FakeFaint properly, so a habit of really fainting stands out.
* ''Literature/GestaDanorum'': When Odin makes snakes appear on the eyes of the boy Sigurd Ragnarsson, Sigurd's nurse faints in terror at the sight.
* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'':
** When the Dementors board the train, Harry faints when they search his compartment, due to him reliving the death of his mother (he even hears her screaming).
** Later, when the Dementors attack him during the Quidditch match, he falls from his broom.
** [[spoiler:He also faints when trying to defend his godfather, Sirius Black, from them, and casts his first Patronus spell to ward them off.]]
* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': Eragon faints when his mentor, Brom, is fatally stabbed. But then, he faints at the end of almost every chapter.
* ''Imieniny'': In this novel by Creator/MalgorzataMusierowicz, the protagonist Pyza faints very romantically after her little brother gets lost. [[spoiler: He turns up safe and sound, and the nice boys who helped him are very happy to offer their help to Pyza.]]
* ''Literature/JaneEyre'':
** As a child, Jane is locked inside a terrifying room alone one afternoon as punishment and comes to believe that she is being haunted by the ghost of her dead uncle. She is so frightened that she faints, and doesn't regain consciousness until midnight.
** At Thornfield Hall, Jane, who has been wakeful in her bed, is approached by the terrifying figure of a strange veiled woman holding a candle deep in the middle of the night. The increasing terror and nervousness from seeing this causes Jane to sink into her bed in a dead faint, and when she regains consciousness it is already morning and the figure is gone.
** Jane faints after she finds out that [[spoiler:Mr Rochester, who she was going to marry, already has a wife]].
* ''Literature/JudgeDee'': A suspect infuriated by the accusations against him gets up to refute them... and collapses in a faint. His subordinates note that he suffers such crises on occasion.
* ''The Last Test'': In this Creator/HPLovecraft work, Georgina overhears a conversation late at night that leads her to believe that [[spoiler:her brother is involved in carrying out brutal human experiments and savage sacrifices]]. The thought of this increasingly terrifies her until eventually she faints while lying in her own bed, and remains in her dead faint until the next morning. After she awakens, she mistakenly believes that what she overheard and subsequently thought late last night was a dream (since they were the last things she remembers before waking up in the morning). It's not until noon, when she personally witnesses [[spoiler:a subject being captured in front of her]], that she realizes that the conversation last night [[ThatWasNotADream was real]], upon which she instantly faints once again and does not wake up until late into the afternoon.
* ''[[Literature/{{LesMiserables}} Les Misérables]]'': Fantine faints upon realizing that Mayor Madeleine is a genuinely kind man who is willing to help her reconnect with her estranged daughter Cosette.
* ''Literature/LittleWomen'': Marmee faints when she receives the news that her husband has contracted pneumonia while serving as a chaplain in the American Civil War.
* ''Literature/LoveAndFreindship'': Parodied mercilessly by Jane Austen. In it, Laura and Sophia ''repeatedly'' faint, which [[spoiler:eventually proves fatal to Sophia when she faints and lies unconscious outside in the rain for more than an hour, catching a cold that soon worsens into deadly tuberculosis]]. The aftermath of this provides our page quote.
* ''Literature/TheMadKing'': King Leopold faints when he realizes that [[spoiler:he's going to be executed as a traitor if he can't convince anyone that he's himself and not his fugitive IdenticalStranger cousin]]. One of many repeated reminders that Leopold is not an admirable manly man like the novel's hero.
* ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'': After Miss Trunchbull witnesses a threatening message written on the chalkboard, seemingly by the ghost of her late brother-in-law (in fact by Matilda telekinetically manipulating the chalk), she faints so deeply that even a jug of water in the face is unable to rouse her.
* ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': During the island getaway episode, the shy time-travelling Mikuru faints promptly upon seeing the stabbed body of the mansion owner, and stays out of the action for a while under Yuki's supervision, providing Haruhi and Kyon an excuse to go exploring alone together.
* ''Literature/MrMen'': At the end of "Little Miss Shy", Mr. Quiet faints when Little Miss Shy [[ShipTease asks him if he'd like to go to her house for tea]].
* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'': PlayedForLaughs. Duchess Millidiana Claes, while accompanying Geordo in his marriage proposal to her daughter Catarina, finds her daughter ''farming''. The Duchess immediately faints upon seeing such unladylike behavior from her daughter.
* ''Literature/TheMysteriesOfUdolpho'':
** Emily faints no fewer than ''ten times'' throughout the story from either grief, fear, anxiety, or sudden joy, and also ''comes close to'' passing out almost as many times. The prose frequently emphasizes how deeply and thoroughly unconscious she is and how long it takes for her to wake up every time despite people's best efforts to revive her.
** Annette, Blanche, and a few other characters also contribute to the total count with one faint from each at various points of the novel, but no one comes anywhere close to Emily.
* ''Literature/TheOrdinaryPrincess'': When the titular princess runs away, her letter causes her two ladies-in-waiting it to scream and/or faint, leaving only one standing to deliver the letter to the king and queen, then cry
* ''[[Literature/{{Pamela}} Pamela, or: Virtue Rewarded]]'': Sees its title character faint whenever Mr. B attempts to force himself onto her, with each faint lasting progressively longer (the first time she stays out for two hours, the next time for three) as though the depth of her unconsciousness corresponds with the audacity of Mr. B's actions and the severity of her plight.
* ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'':
** Christine faints on stage after her splendid gala performance. Possibly exacerbated by exhaustion.
** The first time the Phantom abducts her, Christine faints due to the smell of death on his hand.
** When Raoul first comes face to face with Erik in the Perros graveyard, he faints. Understandable, as Erik has been trying to freak him out by playing the ghost and throwing skulls at him.
* ''[[Literature/{{Quiller}} The Quiller Memorandum]]'': Invoked when Quiller is faced with torture. He attempts to delay it by putting himself into syncope, through breathing heavily then holding his breath to drop his blood pressure. He is under massive stress, and he uses this to make his enemies believe he is weak.
* ''Literature/TheRailwayChildren'': Bobbie Waterbury, via clever use of red petticoats, manages to [[spoiler:prevent a train from careening into a landslide, but has to stand on the tracks to do so. The train finally manages to stop just inches in front of her]], and she very understandably collapses in a dead faint. Creator/JennyAgutter's rendition of the scene in the 1970 FilmOfTheBook is iconic.
* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes:''
** In "The Adventure of the Empty House" in ''The Return of Sherlock Holmes'', Doctor Watson falls down in a dead faint when Holmes suddenly appears in his study [[spoiler:after having been thought dead for three years]].
** "The Naval Treaty" in ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes'' ends with Trevelyan fainting when Holmes presents him with the missing treaty on a silver platter (literally).
* ''Literature/TheSilverChair'': Subverted when Eustace falls off a cliff, Jill collapses to the ground and hopes she'll faint, but the author comments it's not that easy.
* ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'': The revelation that the title character is a talking, sentient skeleton causes Stephanie to faint.
* ''Literature/TheSorrowsOfYoungWerther'': Charlotte, upon hearing of Werther's suicide, sinks into a faint so deep that others begin to fear for her life.
* ''Literature/TeamHuman'': Cathy faints upon being reunited with the boyfriend she thought had abandoned her, but it's pointed out that she also hadn't eaten much in the past week, what with her love-stricken distress and all.
* ''The Tummy Beast'': This poem by Creator/RoaldDahl ends with the eponymous beast speaking, then the protagonist saying, "Now do you believe me, mummy?", only to find his mother unconscious on the floor.
* ''Literature/TheWanderingInn'': When Jelaqua Ivirith, a Selphid, which are basically parasites that inhabit dead bodies, ''literally'' opens her stomach to show Erin her true form that is located in that region? Erin faints, when she sees Jelequa waving to her, inside of...well, Jelequa.
* ''Literature/AWitchShallBeBorn''. Tamaris faints at the height of her rescue. After months of ColdBloodedTorture and [[GoMadFromTheIsolation isolation]], having your sister try to feed you to a monster and and then finding yourself in the middle of a battle do make a good excuse.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': In the book ''Veil of Shadows'', [[spoiler:a group of rebels tries to kill the false Bramblestar. Three of them are killed in the ensuing fight, and Bristlefrost faints when she sees that one of the dead cats is Stemleaf, who she had once wanted as her mate.]]
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* ''Literature/AndHeBuiltACrookedHouse'': Mrs. Bailey repeatedly faints throughout the adventure in the tesseract house.
* ''Literature/AreYouThereGodItsMeMargaret'': Nancy faints in panic [[spoiler:when she gets her period for real]]. Margaret isn't amused, as Nancy has been ''claiming'' to have already dealt with this situation in a bid to brag about her own maturity.
* ''Literature/BarkGeorge'': When the vet pulls the cow out of George, the pup's mother faints dead away.
* ''Literature/TheBippoloSeedAndOtherLostTales'': Discussed in the story "Steak for Supper" involves six strange creatures following a little boy home. He fears that his "mother would faint and [his] father would roar" if they saw the creatures. Thankfully, the creatures run away, so the mother remains conscious and the father keeps quiet.
* ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'': Wilbur is prone to this:
** He faints when he overhears the humans talking about killing him for bacon and ham; the farmhand Lurvey revives him [[WaterWakeUp with a bucket of water.]]
** He faints from StageFright when he receives his medal at the county fair; this time [[YouDirtyRat Templeton]] revives him by [[AttackTheTail biting his tail]].
* ''Literature/TheChinaBride'': Has Troth faint at the sight of a man who looks exactly like her deceased husband. It is not until she revives that she discovers that he is actually a twin that she never knew about.
* ''Literature/DaisyHeadMayzie'': Downplayed. In the book, Mrs. [=McGrew=] ''says'', "I'm going to faint" when she sees that her daughter has a daisy growing from her head, and she's illustrated looking woozy, but she remains conscious. In the AnimatedAdaptation, however, she does pass out.
* ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'': Not even ''personally witnessing'' [[spoiler:her mistress Linnet being presumably shot and killed by her own husband Simon]] can prepare Louise Bourget for actually ''seeing'' the gruesome sight of [[spoiler:Linnet lying dead in her bed with a bloody wound in the head]] the following morning. The poor maid screams and runs out of [[spoiler:her mistress's]] cabin before flopping unconscious into the arms of a steward on the deck.
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': In the first book, Greg passes out when he realizes he accidentally put his thumb on [[NoseNuggets snot]] that Fregley left on a letter for him.
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidCabinFever'': In a flashback, Greg passes out ([[WingdingEyes with X's for eyes)]] when he finds a puzzle box full of crickets.
* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'': Dante faints a few times:
** Near the beginning of ''Inferno'' when crossing the Acheron to the first circle of hell because he's so shocked by how horrible the first tortures are.
** In the circle, for those who succumbed to Lust. There he meets a couple who are the Romeo and Juliet of his time. This one is triggered mainly by empathy, as he himself had loved a woman from afar his whole life.[[note]]combined with a possible FanGirl episode . . . they ''were'' pretty famous[[/note]]
** He faints again towards the end of ''Paradiso'' as he approaches the end of all desires.
* ''Literature/DontCallMeIshmael'':Ishmael faints during his first debate because he is so nervous. Everybody else thinks it's hilarious, as Ishmael also [[ThanksForTheMammary accidentally gropes]] his LoveInterest Kelly as he faints.
* ''Literature/DonQuixote'': Many, many characters faint, but the most significant faint has to be Luscinda's. Already having agreed to marry her beloved Cardenio, Luscinda is placed under immense duress when her parents make her marry the nobleman Fernando instead. On the day of the wedding, Luscinda hides a dagger on her body, as well as a letter explaining that her loyalty belongs to Cardenio and that she plans to kill herself. During the wedding, however, Luscinda is unable to defy the pressure and ends up following through with the exchanging of vows and consents to the marriage in a weakened and dismayed voice. [[DespairEventHorizon Realizing the finality of the situation]], Luscinda faints on the spot. Not only does this cause Cardenio to storm out of the wedding feeling betrayed, but Luscinda's suicide plan is also foiled as both her suicide note and her dagger are discovered and removed from her unconscious body. Her despair is so great that she does not wake up from her faint until the following day.
* ''Literature/DoubleStar'': The heroine faints quietly and without fuss after an intense scene which probably means the ruin of all they've been working for. Later another character reveals precautions have been taken and they're safe - whereupon she faints ''again''. Still, given what's at stake and the extended strain she's been under it's hard to blame her.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' Jonathan Harker pulling one of these fairly early on. He has just been overtly harassed by three beautiful vampire-ladies ''and'' [[HoYay apparently his own host.]]
* Literature/{{Dragonlance}}: In the novel ''Dragons of Winter Night'', the elven princess Laurana faints at a public banquet after her father [[SlutShaming calls her a whore]], and her older brother gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
* ''Literature/DrGretaHelsing'': [[spoiler:Leonora van Dorne]] takes a ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney attitude to life's problems, but collapses when she gets her first glimpse behind the {{Masquerade}} and sees a {{Mummy}}. Fortunately for her, the mummy is of the [[NonMaliciousMonster non-malicious]] stripe and catches her, though not without a bit of ironic lurching.
* ''Literature/TheFinishingSchoolSeries: Dimity faints for real every time she sees blood. --The girls are also taught to FakeFaint properly, so a habit of really fainting stands out.
* ''Literature/GestaDanorum'': When Odin makes snakes appear on the eyes of the boy Sigurd Ragnarsson, Sigurd's nurse faints in terror at the sight.
* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'':
** When the Dementors board the train, Harry faints when they search his compartment, due to him reliving the death of his mother (he even hears her screaming).
** Later, when the Dementors attack him during the Quidditch match, he falls from his broom.
** [[spoiler:He also faints when trying to defend his godfather, Sirius Black, from them, and casts his first Patronus spell to ward them off.]]
* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': Eragon faints when his mentor, Brom, is fatally stabbed. But then, he faints at the end of almost every chapter.
* ''Imieniny'': In this novel by Creator/MalgorzataMusierowicz, the protagonist Pyza faints very romantically after her little brother gets lost. [[spoiler: He turns up safe and sound, and the nice boys who helped him are very happy to offer their help to Pyza.]]
* ''Literature/JaneEyre'':
** As a child, Jane is locked inside a terrifying room alone one afternoon as punishment and comes to believe that she is being haunted by the ghost of her dead uncle. She is so frightened that she faints, and doesn't regain consciousness until midnight.
** At Thornfield Hall, Jane, who has been wakeful in her bed, is approached by the terrifying figure of a strange veiled woman holding a candle deep in the middle of the night. The increasing terror and nervousness from seeing this causes Jane to sink into her bed in a dead faint, and when she regains consciousness it is already morning and the figure is gone.
** Jane faints after she finds out that [[spoiler:Mr Rochester, who she was going to marry, already has a wife]].
* ''Literature/JudgeDee'': A suspect infuriated by the accusations against him gets up to refute them... and collapses in a faint. His subordinates note that he suffers such crises on occasion.
* ''The Last Test'': In this Creator/HPLovecraft work, Georgina overhears a conversation late at night that leads her to believe that [[spoiler:her brother is involved in carrying out brutal human experiments and savage sacrifices]]. The thought of this increasingly terrifies her until eventually she faints while lying in her own bed, and remains in her dead faint until the next morning. After she awakens, she mistakenly believes that what she overheard and subsequently thought late last night was a dream (since they were the last things she remembers before waking up in the morning). It's not until noon, when she personally witnesses [[spoiler:a subject being captured in front of her]], that she realizes that the conversation last night [[ThatWasNotADream was real]], upon which she instantly faints once again and does not wake up until late into the afternoon.
* ''[[Literature/{{LesMiserables}} Les Misérables]]'': Fantine faints upon realizing that Mayor Madeleine is a genuinely kind man who is willing to help her reconnect with her estranged daughter Cosette.
* ''Literature/LittleWomen'': Marmee faints when she receives the news that her husband has contracted pneumonia while serving as a chaplain in the American Civil War.
* ''Literature/LoveAndFreindship'': Parodied mercilessly by Jane Austen. In it, Laura and Sophia ''repeatedly'' faint, which [[spoiler:eventually proves fatal to Sophia when she faints and lies unconscious outside in the rain for more than an hour, catching a cold that soon worsens into deadly tuberculosis]]. The aftermath of this provides our page quote.
* ''Literature/TheMadKing'': King Leopold faints when he realizes that [[spoiler:he's going to be executed as a traitor if he can't convince anyone that he's himself and not his fugitive IdenticalStranger cousin]]. One of many repeated reminders that Leopold is not an admirable manly man like the novel's hero.
* ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'': After Miss Trunchbull witnesses a threatening message written on the chalkboard, seemingly by the ghost of her late brother-in-law (in fact by Matilda telekinetically manipulating the chalk), she faints so deeply that even a jug of water in the face is unable to rouse her.
* ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': During the island getaway episode, the shy time-travelling Mikuru faints promptly upon seeing the stabbed body of the mansion owner, and stays out of the action for a while under Yuki's supervision, providing Haruhi and Kyon an excuse to go exploring alone together.
* ''Literature/MrMen'': At the end of "Little Miss Shy", Mr. Quiet faints when Little Miss Shy [[ShipTease asks him if he'd like to go to her house for tea]].
* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'': PlayedForLaughs. Duchess Millidiana Claes, while accompanying Geordo in his marriage proposal to her daughter Catarina, finds her daughter ''farming''. The Duchess immediately faints upon seeing such unladylike behavior from her daughter.
* ''Literature/TheMysteriesOfUdolpho'':
** Emily faints no fewer than ''ten times'' throughout the story from either grief, fear, anxiety, or sudden joy, and also ''comes close to'' passing out almost as many times. The prose frequently emphasizes how deeply and thoroughly unconscious she is and how long it takes for her to wake up every time despite people's best efforts to revive her.
** Annette, Blanche, and a few other characters also contribute to the total count with one faint from each at various points of the novel, but no one comes anywhere close to Emily.
* ''Literature/TheOrdinaryPrincess'': When the titular princess runs away, her letter causes her two ladies-in-waiting it to scream and/or faint, leaving only one standing to deliver the letter to the king and queen, then cry
* ''[[Literature/{{Pamela}} Pamela, or: Virtue Rewarded]]'': Sees its title character faint whenever Mr. B attempts to force himself onto her, with each faint lasting progressively longer (the first time she stays out for two hours, the next time for three) as though the depth of her unconsciousness corresponds with the audacity of Mr. B's actions and the severity of her plight.
* ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'':
** Christine faints on stage after her splendid gala performance. Possibly exacerbated by exhaustion.
** The first time the Phantom abducts her, Christine faints due to the smell of death on his hand.
** When Raoul first comes face to face with Erik in the Perros graveyard, he faints. Understandable, as Erik has been trying to freak him out by playing the ghost and throwing skulls at him.
* ''[[Literature/{{Quiller}} The Quiller Memorandum]]'': Invoked when Quiller is faced with torture. He attempts to delay it by putting himself into syncope, through breathing heavily then holding his breath to drop his blood pressure. He is under massive stress, and he uses this to make his enemies believe he is weak.
* ''Literature/TheRailwayChildren'': Bobbie Waterbury, via clever use of red petticoats, manages to [[spoiler:prevent a train from careening into a landslide, but has to stand on the tracks to do so. The train finally manages to stop just inches in front of her]], and she very understandably collapses in a dead faint. Creator/JennyAgutter's rendition of the scene in the 1970 FilmOfTheBook is iconic.
* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes:''
** In "The Adventure of the Empty House" in ''The Return of Sherlock Holmes'', Doctor Watson falls down in a dead faint when Holmes suddenly appears in his study [[spoiler:after having been thought dead for three years]].
** "The Naval Treaty" in ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes'' ends with Trevelyan fainting when Holmes presents him with the missing treaty on a silver platter (literally).
* ''Literature/TheSilverChair'': Subverted when Eustace falls off a cliff, Jill collapses to the ground and hopes she'll faint, but the author comments it's not that easy.
* ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'': The revelation that the title character is a talking, sentient skeleton causes Stephanie to faint.
* ''Literature/TheSorrowsOfYoungWerther'': Charlotte, upon hearing of Werther's suicide, sinks into a faint so deep that others begin to fear for her life.
* ''Literature/TeamHuman'': Cathy faints upon being reunited with the boyfriend she thought had abandoned her, but it's pointed out that she also hadn't eaten much in the past week, what with her love-stricken distress and all.
* ''The Tummy Beast'': This poem by Creator/RoaldDahl ends with the eponymous beast speaking, then the protagonist saying, "Now do you believe me, mummy?", only to find his mother unconscious on the floor.
* ''Literature/TheWanderingInn'': When Jelaqua Ivirith, a Selphid, which are basically parasites that inhabit dead bodies, ''literally'' opens her stomach to show Erin her true form that is located in that region? Erin faints, when she sees Jelequa waving to her, inside of...well, Jelequa.
* ''Literature/AWitchShallBeBorn''. Tamaris faints at the height of her rescue. After months of ColdBloodedTorture and [[GoMadFromTheIsolation isolation]], having your sister try to feed you to a monster and and then finding yourself in the middle of a battle do make a good excuse.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': In the book ''Veil of Shadows'', [[spoiler:a group of rebels tries to kill the false Bramblestar. Three of them are killed in the ensuing fight, and Bristlefrost faints when she sees that one of the dead cats is Stemleaf, who she had once wanted as her mate.]]
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