History Main / LonersareFreaks

** In the last book with Dumbledore is revealed to be a true loner himself. While adored by the entire wizarding populace, Albus never seemed ''particularly'' close to anyone- the most fondness we see him express over the series is for his old flame Grindelwald and for Harry. Part of this is explained because his genius made him feel isolated, but by the last book, it becomes very clear he just didn't trust anyone with all of his secrets, preferring to kill Voldemort with a XanatosRoulette. While Dumbledore is adored by all, most of the time, his intense quirkiness can lead to him being seen as a freak, as throughout ''The Deathly Hallows,'' Harry grows increasingly disillusioned as it sinks in how little Albus trusted him. However, this is ultimately a DownplayedTrope with him. JK Rowling says on Pottermore that Albus Dumbledore and Professor [=McGonagall=] were quite close, bonding over similarities in their childhoods. Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore were also reported to be relatively close before everything went wrong.

** Not exactly. [[spoiler:The Dark Tower is the nexus of all existence. Saving it at the price of a thousand lives would be a bargain.]]
*** But remember, Roland's goal is not to save the Dark Tower, but to reach it. He goes out of his way to save it because if it falls he could never reach it. [[spoiler: If given the hypothetical choice of saving but never being able to get there, or reaching and climbing to the top at the cost of its destruction along with all of reality, he'd choose the second option.]]

* The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series makes use of this trope - a key plot point throughout the series is that Lord Voldemort's lack of understanding of and inability to love another person or thing is one of his greatest weaknesses (he's actually a full-blown sociopath), whereas Harry's ability to love is his greatest strength. That said, Harry is a bit of a loner, of the more harmless variety. In fact, he is often mistaken for a freak, particularly in books 2, and 5. Voldemort was also said to be quite popular when he was younger, and his followers, the Death Eaters, include many people he knew from school, although he tended to dominate his underlings and by the time he comes back its clear that most only hang around him out of sheer terror.

*** Verging into WMG territory, but the difference between the boys is what Rowling seems to be emphasizing, as if deliberately building on this trope. Voldemort not only is a loner, but actively shuns friendship, and is thus the most messed up and evil. Harry reaches out, has friends, and in the moments when the school turns against him, he still has a full blown group of TrueCompanions to help him, thus making him well adjusted and pretty close to normal. Snape falls halfway, desperately seeking friendship from his Death Eater pals, who aren't really friends, and accidentally estranging his only real friend. Thus he ends up suspended halfway between evil and true good.
*** To be perfectly clear: Snape is an AntiHero.
** This all rears its head again in the last book with Dumbledore being revealed to be a true loner himself. While adored by the entire wizarding populace, Albus never seemed ''particularly'' close to anyone- the most fondness we see him express over the series is for his old flame Grindelwald and for Harry. Part of this is explained because his genius made him feel isolated, but by the last book, it becomes very clear he just didn't trust anyone with all of his secrets, preferring to kill Voldemort with a XanatosRoulette. While Dumbledore is adored by all, most of the time, his intense quirkiness can lead to him being seen as a freak, as throughout ''The Deathly Hallows,'' Harry grows increasingly disillusioned as it sinks in how little Albus trusted him.
*** JK Rowling says on Pottermore that Albus Dumbledore and Professor [=McGonagall=] were quite close, bonding over similarities in their childhoods. Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore were also reported to be relatively close before everything went wrong.

*** The subsequent ''Shadow'' books do this even more clearly, though. Who's the villain? Achilles, who seems to be able to make everyone, except some of the battleschoolers, love him. He feels no attachment to them and is noted by Bean near the end as being empty and unable to understand true bonds. Who're the heroes? Bean, Mr. Antisocial himself, although [[spoiler:it is revealed that his detachment from humanity is more about him caring too much than too little]]. And Peter Wiggin, the terror of his brother's life and the ultimate "I can do it myself" loner. [[spoiler:Until he realizes just how good his parents are to talk to and after he marries Petra.]]

** Thomas Riker's kind of a questionable example as well. Most of the conflict in the episode he appears in comes not from having been alone for so long, but from his resentment of Will for having lived those years while he was trapped. (Speaking of which, it's awfully dramatically convenient that the Enterprise happened to be the ship that found Tom Riker.) Neither is he really "evil" when he appears in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]''; he's working for the Maquis, sure, but that's morally ambiguous; and again, he doesn't seem to have joined them because of his time alone so much as to differentiate himself from Will.
*** Actually it's not dramatically convenient but rather logically convenient. The reason the Enterprise was assigned to attempt to retrieve the computer core is that Riker had been assigned to the planet and given his rank at the time he was would be the officer on a star ship to most likely be familiar with the computer systems. It was a time saving measure rather than training someone new on an undoubtedly outdated system.

* According to some psychiatric researchers, there is are a number of '[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_disorder personality disorders]]' such as '[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoidant_personality_disorder avoidant personality disorder]]', [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_anxiety social anxiety]] and '[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_shy love shyness]]' that cause victims to be severe introverts. Naturally, there is increased risk of other mental disorders, but these people are rarely dangerous. Sadly, these people are often mistaken for '[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder antisocial]]' individuals who can be harmful to society.
** In the examples above, the person deep down still desires friendship and intimacy, they just have problems obtaining them. For natural loners, who really couldn't care less if they have any friends or not, the personality disorder is called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder schizoid]]
*** Some psychiatrists don't even think schizoid personality disorder ''is'' a disorder, since those affected may not actually suffer in any way. One calls the disorder "the medicalization of non-conformity".
*** With the new DSM V criteria for psychiatric illnesses, Schizoid is no longer considered a disorder.

** A man was recently accused of selling US secrets to Israel, and surprise surprise, his neighbor said that she hadn't noticed it before, but he was unsocial and weird.

* Subverted in ''Manga/DeathNote'' as the GreatDetective L is a loner who states that Light and Misa are his only friends, whilst Light can easily summon a mob of friends to act as an distraction, and Misa is a super model that has numerous contacts to bail her out of various situations.
** Contacts aren't necessarily friends though, and Light doesn't appear to be particularly close to anyone.
*** Either way, both are quite comfortable in social situations, easily making themselves centers of attention, and enjoying the admiration of others - very much unlike the loner L. Later in the series we come across a genuine freaky loner, Mikami Teru.
*** Misa does, indeed have friends. During the Yotsuba arc, she meets up with a friend, Nori.
**** She does earlier ask Light if she wants him to ''murder'' her friend, though, when Light suggests [[HeKnowsTooMuch She Knows Too Much]]. Particularly notable in that even [[LackOfEmpathy Light]] was shocked at her question, and [[SerialKiller for once]] really wasn't wondering about killing someone to cover his tracks. He was just thinking maybe Misa should be more secretive and careful in the future.

** Ed Gein was actually a severely disturbed individual who almost perfectly fits this trope, while he was not entirely cut off from the outside world he spent the majority of his spare time alone at home crafting furnishings out of human body parts. JW Gacy and Ted Bundy on the other hand are complete aversions of this trope.

* The entire premise of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII: AdventChildren'' is for the PowerOfFriendship and an adoring group of TrueCompanions to finally dredge loner-protagonist Cloud out of his [[{{Wangst}} mopey-assed, guilt-ridden shell]]. This is exemplified by the scene in which each member of the party (even [[spoiler: the dead one]]) [[FastballSpecial hurls him higher in the air]] while giving words of encouragement so he can single-handedly defeat a summoned dragon god. This carries on from the game: see below.

A loner can also become a freak through isolation. Humans learn how to be human through social interaction. And there are many social skills that can only be learnt in person -- isolation can lead to NoSocialSkills. When you're raised in isolation, you behave differently. Many psychological disorders originate from a deficit in human interaction. Then that person will be shunned, isolating him further in a vicious cycle, putting him closer to DespairEventHorizon.....

A more tragic explanation for this trope is that loners are simply expressing their true personalities (in this case, being a loner) by "refusing" to adapt to societal standards they don't like. This can be interpreted as being an act of rebellion by others when nothing deeper is really going on. Thus, many introverted people are assumed to be going through a stage that they'll "grow out of" or dismissed as having ulterior motives for their behavior that end up just isolating them more.

A more tragic explanation for this trope is that loners are simply refusing to conform to social standards by expressing their true personalities (in this case, being a loner). This can be interpreted as being 'weird' by others, rather than an act of rebellion.

* Some verses of Literature/TheBible seem to hold the viewpoint that being a loner isn't a good thing. Proverbs 18:1 demonstrates how loners are selfish individuals looking out for themselves and not others, and Ecclesiastes 4:10 describes how the person suffers hardship because of the lack of companionship from others.

* The ''HarryPotter'' series makes use of this trope - a key plot point throughout the series is that Lord Voldemort's lack of understanding of and inability to love another person or thing is one of his greatest weaknesses (he's actually a full-blown sociopath), whereas Harry's ability to love is his greatest strength. That said, Harry is a bit of a loner, of the more harmless variety. In fact, he is often mistaken for a freak, particularly in books 2, and 5. Voldemort was also said to be quite popular when he was younger, and his followers, the Death Eaters, include many people he knew from school, although he tended to dominate his underlings and by the time he comes back its clear that most only hang around him out of sheer terror.

** This all rears its head again in the last book with Dumbledore being revealed to be a true loner himself. While adored by the entire wizarding populace, Albus never seemed ''particularly'' close to anyone- the most fondness we see him express over the series is for his old flame Grindlewald and for Harry. Part of this is explained because his genius made him feel isolated, but by the last book, it becomes very clear he just didn't trust anyone with all of his secrets, preferring to kill Voldemort with a XanatosRoulette. While Dumbledore is adored by all, most of the time, his intense quirkiness can lead to him being seen as a freak, as throughout ''The Deathly Hallows,'' Harry grows increasingly disillusioned as it sinks in how little Albus trusted him.

* Played with in FairyTail. Marakov finds [[TheDragon Gajeel]] bumming around after Phantom Lord was defeated. When Gajeel insists that he is fine by himself, Marakov points out that some people prefer solitude, but no one likes being alone.

* DependingOnTheWriter, {{Batman}}.

** ...gather a group of fellow loner freaks around himself and embark on a [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic vaguely surrealistic journey]] to uncover the nature of death and reality itself. (''PlanescapeTorment'')
** ...expose the scheme of a CorruptCorporateExecutive who intends to turn the last domestic motorcycle manufacturer into yet another maker of minivans. (''Minivans''!) (''FullThrottle'')
** ...repeatedly exterminate the [[TheVirus species that would become a threat to the universe]] if it were allowed to spread. (''{{Metroid}}'')

** ...aid the formation of the unlikeliest military alliance in, well, quite some time anyway, in order to battle back a demonic apocalypse. (''WarCraftIII'')
** ...prevent dragons from destroying the world by devouring their souls and using their powers against them. (''VideoGame/{{Skyrim}}'')

** ...defeat the risen Count Dracula and his legions of monsters, earning the [[strike:undying gratitude]] fear and hatred of the townsfolk. (''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'')
** ...save the world three times over while stealing everything even slightly shiny and not nailed down ''and'' on fire (''{{Thief}}'').

->''"Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. (...) Anyone who (...) does not partake of society is either a beast or [[AGodAmI a god]]."''

* Sousuke Sagara from ''Lightnovel/FullMetalPanic'' ''specifically'' tries not to get too attached to people, mainly because he wants to maintain his business-like, cold way of following orders. Unfortunately for him, people just seem to be [[MagneticHero so attracted to him]] that, even if he doesn't want to, he constantly ends up with groups of TrueCompanions. [[StalkerWithACrush Gauron]] becomes rather angry when he finds out that Sousuke is constantly surrounded by friends, and actually [[HannibalLecture lectures]] Sousuke about how being a loner is a ''good thing'' that makes him strong and unique. Funniest part about it is that Gauron himself kept two [[WifeHusbandry very loyal girls]] by his side, making it more likely that his grand speech had more [[GreenEyedMonster shallow reasons]].

* ''DesperateHousewives'' sometimes plays this trope straight ([[spoiler: Wayne Davis, Eddie Orlofsky, Felicia Tillman]]), sometimes it averts it. There's Karen [=McCluskey=], who is first introduced as an insufferable old loner, but then we find out that she still suffers for her son's early death.

* A major plot point in ItsNotMyFaultImNotPopular, where protagonist [[NoSocialSkills Tomoko's]] main goal is to [[IJustWantToHaveFriends be more sociable]] and avert this trope. [[CringeComedy She often fails]] [[HilarityEnsues spectacularly]].

* Played with in any Creator/AynRand novel. Typically, villains or idiots believe this trope to be true, and most of the heroes are loners. The loners themselves consider the trope false, although they tend to [[BirdsOfAFeather get along with each other]]. Ultimately, Rand tends to invert this trope, although some of her heroes (Francisco d'Anconia in ''AtlasShrugged'' and Austen Heller in ''TheFountainhead'' for example) are pretty sociable.

* Toyed with in ''DarkOracle''. Lance is an antisocial gaming geek, but is one of the main protagonists. His CloudCuckooLander girlfriend Sage is similarly weird and isolated, but a very pleasant girl. [[BigBadWannabe Vern]], [[EvilCounterpart Blaze]], and [[EvilTwin comic!Sage]] on the other hand, cross in PsychoLoner territory and stay there.

** Then later on he [[spoiler: kills his friends in his quest for Godhood. To be fair, they did intentionally get in his way, try to tell him the truth that he couldn't bring people back to life (not a bad thing in its self, but considering his reasoning of 'I can bring everyone I've killed back, so it doesn't matter', it broke him) when it wouldn't have even mattered, they were kind of stupid.]] He was a freaky loner who got better, but it was too late for entirely other reasons.

--> '''Chloe''': They might be. Look, you don't want people thinking you're ''weird'', do you? You don't people thinking you're not ''normal''?

* Boo Radley, of ''ToKillAMockingbird'', is seen as this by the rest of the town. He is a MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold -- a kind and caring, if not shy person who just happens to have been a recluse.

* Sarah from from ''ComicBook/BazookaJules'' is an anti-social girl that goes to Julie's school. She's nicknamed weird girl because she has no friends and spends a lot of her time talking to her imaginary friends. The only person that wants to be her friend in Julie and she hates Julie.

* Roland Deschain, the protagonist of Creator/StephenKing's magnum opus ''TheDarkTower'', suffers from this trope: he has been alone for so long in his quest to reach the titular Dark Tower that it is his only reason for living. In the first book he goes so far as to [[AntiHero let a twelve-year-old boy he rescued and bonded with to fall to his death]], just to because his nemesis said it was the only way he'd ever allow himself to be caught, and said nemesis seemed to know about the Dark Tower. Roland's character softens into something a great deal more sympathetic after he forms a traveling party that helps him in his quest -- which includes what amounts to a resurrected version of that kid, who'd have to be insane to follow Roland again under any other circumstances.

* ''PrincessTutu'' has Autor, a character who is first introduced by several cameos of him sitting alone in a library, yelling at others to be quiet while employing ScaryShinyGlasses. Once he becomes integrated into the plot, it appears that he doesn't have many friends because he's consumed by his obsession with Drosselmeyer (as well as a belief that he's better than everyone)--although there's occasional hints that he's bothered by his position, including him having an angry reaction to Uzura calling him "Weird Autor". [[spoiler:In the end, he helps give Rue an epiphany using ThePowerOfLove, and also saves Fakir, ''possibly'' hinting that he's come to accept the boy as a friend.]]