History Main / IneffectualLoner

* Knuckles from ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' started out as one due to his duty to guard the Master Emerald in Angel Island. After forging a friendship with Sonic and Tails, he seems to grow out of his shell.
** Blaze in the ''VideoGame/SonicRushSeries'' is this. She rejects the help of Sonic and his friends in believing that she must find all of the Sol Emeralds by herself. At the end of the game, she begins to learn ThePowerOfFriendship and accepts the heroes as her friends.

He's {{badass}}. He has cool clothes. He's a little less idealistic than the hero. He makes a grand entrance. And does it in half the time the hero does. Why's he a loner? Generally it turns out to be some kind of betrayal, or maybe they lost friends or family and now they just want to be alone.

* ''DimensionHeroes'': Wyn from the web fiction serial is unwilling to join with the other Dimensional Guardians until he finds himself in over his head.

* Nao Yuuki from ''Anime/{{Mai-Hime}}'' is mostly this, but not because she's ineffective. Rather, she's utterly disinterested in the battles the other [=HiME=] are involved in, preferring her own path of preying on creeps she lures to her via the internet. And when she works with the others to stop the [[spoiler:Sears Foundation's invasion of Fuka Academy]], she's just as effective there. However, almost immediately afterwards, she's [[spoiler:framed for attacking another [=HiME=] and loses her eye in the ensuing battle]], causing her naturally distrustful personality to blow into full on paranoia, leading her to take out her feelings of revenge on everyone she almost trusted until the events of the GrandFinale.

* Caren in ''MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch''. GoodIsDumb eventually gets her.

* The X-Laws from ShamanKing are an entire ''team'' of ineffectual loners.
* Gareki from ''{{Karneval}}'' fits the first paragraph to a T, although he's a main character and too {{Badass}} to fail (so far; being rational and aware of his lacking strength next to a Circus fighter helps too). Also, he's a Type A {{Tsundere}}, which goes along charmingly with the personality trait ({{Badass}}; it's kept him from being Ineffectual thusfar).

* Kai Hiwatari, from {{Beyblade}} is this massively all the way through season 1 ("There's no Kai in team!", anyone?), is less obnoxiously so in V-Force (re. goes off to fight wind Weasel thing alone), reverts back to season 1 persona in G-Rev. And never beats Tyson. Bless.

* Played straight, subverted as part of CharacterDevelopment, and then sort of zig-zagged with Piccolo from DragonBallZ. He ''always'' lives alone, constantly training himself mentally and physically. Even when he starts getting some concept of ThePowerOfFriendship, he still prefers to do things his own way. Often times being the only one who can even remotely stand up to the BigBad of the arc, up until around the time Cell finishes up becoming Perfect, but the only finishing blow he gets against a serious fighter requires a HeroicSacrifice by his then-WorthyOpponent. The zig-zag comes around because, even though he (eventually) openly admits that some threats are simply too big to fight alone, the only time he's shown spending any time with anyone else is when they're in the middle of training to combat said big threat.
* George Schyuter of MuhyoAndRoji, quoted above, has a FreudianExcuse that because his assistants ended up dying so often, he attracted a bad reputation and decided to avoid causing or being blamed for others' deaths by practicing Magical Law alone with a spescial sword and envoy. He initially obstructs Muhyo and Roji's efforts to deal with Vector by threatening to revoke their licenses if they interfere, before setting out to deal with him alone. This doesn't go very well, and he ends up being forced to pull a YouShallNotPass in order to buy time for Roji to wake up Muhyo, who proceeds to finish the fight with Vector.

* Barnaby Brooks Jr. from ''TigerAndBunny'' begins the series as one of these. While he has a public front as being very friendly and charming, in reality he's entirely too wrapped up in seeking revenge to form any sort of relationship with other people. It takes [[AllLovingHero Kotetsu]] thirteen episodes [[spoiler:[[TakingTheBullet and a flamebolt to the chest]]]] to drag him out of it.

* Captain, Zero, and Bakunetsumaru start out this way in SDGundamForce. Captain shrugs off Shute's companionship at first because he has to mantain TheMasquerade, but rethinks this when he realizes that the Soul Drive runs on the PowerOfFriendship. Similarly, both Zero and Bakunetsumaru when they first appear are disdainful of the Gundam Force, but come to recognize them as warriors of worth, and decide to help them protect Neotopia as they would their own nations. [[DrillSergeantNasty Gunbike]] actually lampshades this trope;

* The first chapters of Manga/SeraphOfTheEnd are essentially about beating ThePowerOfFriendship into [[TheHero Yuu]], who's afraid to get close to others after watching all of his loved ones be slaughtered (and ''that'' was after already going through the defrosting process once, due to a [[AbusiveParents bitter relationship with his parents]] before the incident). In fact, his commander makes 'making friends at school' a ''requirement'' before the kid can officially join the squad he wants to be a part of, knowing that an IneffectualLoner will only get himself killed.

* Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune from ''SailorMoon'' have a consistently condescending view of many of the other characters, despite being surprisingly useless when combating actual [[TheDragon Dragons]] or {{Big Bad}}s.

* Subverted in ''FinalFantasyTactics'' with the character Delita, who exhibits the philosophy and behavior of the IneffectualLoner, but proves not to be ineffectual at all. This can be attributed to the title's uncharacteristically (for Final Fantasy) heavy emphasis on the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism "cynical" end of the scale']] -- TheHero Ramza would be TheMessiah if he could, but in Ivalice, it just doesn't work that way.

* Subversion: In ''[[FateStayNight Fate/Stay Night]]'', the Archer character is the Ineffectual Loner; this is a subversion as he is [[spoiler:actually the disillusioned future self of TheMessiah who realized at the end of his life that trying to save everyone was an impossible goal. Plus he's far from ineffectual.]]

* Knuckles from ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' was a loner because he was given a job to guard the Master Emerald in Angel Island. Even though [[FireForgedFriends him and Sonic became friends]], that doesn't mean he will always assist him in his adventures since he must return to his duties. Also, he doesn't rely on him or the others. By the time Sonic Heroes appeared, he seems to grow out of his shell.

* The Doctor in ''Series/{{Doctor Who}}''. Especially in the New Series, the Doctor likes to get in this mode after losing a companion. For example, the Tenth Doctor after [[spoiler:he had to [[VictoryGuidedAmnesia wipe Donna's memory]] after she became the Doctor-Donna.]] Another example is the Eleventh Doctor [[spoiler:when Amy and Rory are sent back in time.]]

* ''BatmanArkhamOrigins'' is an exploration of this trope, as Batman realizes he ''needs'' Jim Gordon.

->'''Batman''': I need your help. I thought I could - [[IWorkAlone I thought I ]]''[[IWorkAlone needed]]'' [[IWorkAlone to do this alone - a "back to basics" approach]]. I was ''wrong''. No ''one'' person can do this alone. No Man's Land is too big... too... ''dark''. The only way to bring light back to Gotham is [[ThePowerOfFriendship working together]]. [[TrueCompanions All of us]].

-->'''Batman''': I need your help. I thought I could - [[IWorkAlone I thought I ]]''[[IWorkAlone needed]]'' [[IWorkAlone to do this alone - a "back to basics" approach]]. I was ''wrong''. No ''one'' person can do this alone. No Man's Land is too big... too... ''dark''. The only way to bring light back to Gotham is [[ThePowerOfFriendship working together]]. [[TrueCompanions All of us]].

* Hikigaya Hachiman from ''YahariOreNoSeishunLoveComeWaMachigatteiru'' prefers to be left alone, but after his teacher forced him to join a club that helps other students he has situations where helps people alone [[spoiler:(even if the entire school hates him for it later on.)]]

[[TheMessiah A forgiving lead hero]] will usually be sympathetic to his intentions, even if other characters regarded him as an annoyance. Indeed, sometimes there's a specific character who does that intently -- sometimes [[WhiteMagicianGirl a little too much]].

* Barnaby Brooks Jr. from ''TigerAndBunny'' begins the series as one of these. While he has a public front as being very friendly and charming, in reality he's entirely too wrapped up in seeking revenge to form any sort of relationship with other people. It takes [[TheMessiah Kotetsu]] thirteen episodes [[spoiler:[[TakingTheBullet and a flamebolt to the chest]]]] to drag him out of it.

* Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger of ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'' consistently thought himself superior to the other Rangers (and, on paper, he ''was'') and never actually joined the team in any real sense. He only actively works with the others in the finale, and then it's only by giving his powers to the Red Ranger, Wes, when he is incapacitated. (In ''Time Force'''s counterpart ''MiraiSentaiTimeranger'', the equivalent character, Naoto Takizawa, actually experiences RedemptionEqualsDeath).

** He heads back towards being a straight example from about [[spoiler:his fight with Itachi]] onwards, as he only got out of that because [[spoiler:the fight was thrown]], he goes back to being bailed out by his ''new'' team in his next fight, and it generally seems as if he's never going to achieve anything he aims for.
** Except then he promptly [[spoiler: owns and kills Danzo, ditches his team, and gets ''another'' [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands power upgrade.]]]] As with just about every other trope, Sasuke keeps us guessing on this one.

->''"I had partners once, a long time ago. [[DeadPartner But they kept dying]]. One after the other. They started calling me Schyuter the Grim Reaper. I was powerless to save them, and I blamed others. [[IWorkAlone I decided to go it alone]]. I'd hurt no one and no one would blame me."''
-->-- '''George Schyuter''', ''MuhyoAndRoji''

-->'''Batman''': I need your help. I thought I could - [[IWorkAlone I thought I ]]''[[IWorkAlone needed]]'' [[IWorkAlone to do this alone - a "back to basics" approach]]. I was ''wrong''. No ''one'' person can do this alone. No Man's Land is too big... too... ''dark''. The only way to bring light back to Gotham is [[ThePowerOfFriendship working together]]. [[TrueCompanions All of us]].

* MassEffect 2: [[spoiler: Garrus Vakarian]] starts out this way, causing trouble to the gangs of Omega.
** [[spoiler: Actually, Garrus worked with a team of 11 other people up until the gangs joined forces. The only reason Garrus is alone when you first meet him is because the rest of his team was killed. He's quite happy to join Shepard and, outside of a burning hatred for the man who sold out his team, is not bitter about the concept of teamwork.]]

* During the [[Comicbook/BatmanNoMansLand No Man's Land]] storyline, {{Batman}} became this by cutting himself from [[BadassFamily all his allies]] and forbidding them to help. Finally, he realized this approach was counterproductive and recalled them all.

The IneffectualLoner does not understand ThePowerOfFriendship, or just isn't concerned. The problem is this attitude makes someone pretty single-minded, and he's afraid to trust anyone as an ally or they'd be a [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies liability]]/distraction. He's also extremely susceptible (if not outright gullible) to villains who know how to think this way. He may catch on eventually, but he'll be a tool (in several senses of the word) for a bit.

An IneffectualLoner usually starts to catch on to their role the first time they get their ass handed to them, and [[BigDamnHeroes the other heroes bail him out]]. This is often a [[SchmuckBait tempting trap]] laid by the villain, who knows the loner has no friends to warn him about the obvious danger.

* Asuka Langley Soryuu from ''NAnime/eonGenesisEvangelion'' is introduced in a manner very similar to Jung Freud (same director, same company). This is soon subverted; instead of fading into the background after her first (slight) comeuppance, she is promoted to [[LoveInterests love interest]] (a ''much'' more dangerous position in a [[StudioGainax Gainax]] giant robot story) and then to central cast member. She still suffers like most {{Ineffectual Loner}}s - it's just longer in coming and much nastier when it happens.

* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn''has Hibari Kyoya, the ostentatious head of the Disciplinary Committee (Although he is only ever seen with one of its members at any given time), doesn't like groups. He hates groups, and people who group, to the point of beating them senseless with the only warning being a derogatory "I'll Bite You to Death." He's considered invincible by his peers in the manga (most of whom are afraid of getting on his bad side), and has only lost one battle total due to a cheap trick pulled by the resident ManipulativeBastard Rokudo Mukuro. Despite this completely ridiculous winning streak, when it comes to the appearance of the BigBad, he doesn't even try to pull a stunt, leaving it to the hero. (He is also the reference image for this page.)

* Asuka Langley Soryuu from ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is introduced in a manner very similar to Jung Freud (same director, same company). This is soon subverted; instead of fading into the background after her first (slight) comeuppance, she is promoted to [[LoveInterests love interest]] (a ''much'' more dangerous position in a [[StudioGainax Gainax]] giant robot story) and then to central cast member. She still suffers like most {{Ineffectual Loner}}s - it's just longer in coming and much nastier when it happens.

* Fakir in ''PrincessTutu'' certainly starts off this way. As soon as the main heroine figures out he's [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold not really that bad of a guy]] she tries to convince him to team up with her, but it takes until near the end of the season until he finally does, and even then it's reluctantly. In the second season he doesn't mind quite as much, but he still maintains a bad habit of trying to do things on his own.