History Main / MyGreatestFailure

** [[Characters/MonsterVerseMarkRussell Mark Russell]] in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' personally feels that him abandoning his remaining child Madison after the death of his elder son is the worst mistake he ever made, and it's a big motivator in [[IWillFindYou his personal quest to get back to her]]. {{Deconstructed}} in ''Godzilla vs. Kong'', where Mark has misinterpreted and over-embellished the lesson to be learned from this mistake by swinging from being an [[ParentalNeglect overly-absent father]] to instead being a [[MyBelovedSmother controlling, patronizing and hardass father]] who insists to the point of delusion that Madison is {{just a kid}} with no brains of her own.

* In ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'', Adam Dodd doesn't only have one of these, but two. The first of these is allowing himself to become separated from the other members of his group - among them his girlfriend and other close buddies of his. [[spoiler:They all proceed to be killed, and in one case, raped]]. Adam blames himself for this. His second stems from an incident where his (mentally unstable) brother attacked him. Adam regrets throughout version 1 his failure to forgive his older brother [[spoiler:until one of the very last scenes of the V1 endgame]].

* In the ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' play series: In part four, ''Gilded Cages'', it is suggested that for Mrs. Hawking this is [[spoiler:her very first attempt at superheroing, when she tried to help her maid Malaika steal food for her starving village in Singapore. Their attempts resulted in failure, Malaika losing her job and imprisoned, and herself forced to marry in exchange for her father providing relief to the village.]]
* In ''Theatre/TheMousetrap'', it's eventually revealed that decades earlier, the protagonist [[spoiler:was sent a letter that could have saved a child's life, but was too ill to read it when she got it, and then it was too late.]] Even though it wasn't her fault so much as it was just terrible luck, it's haunted her ever since.
* In ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', George Washington is haunted by his first command, where he led his men into a massacre.

* Subverted with the protagonist of ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}''. He considers his relationship with Bethany as his greatest failure; however, Bethany’s own sociopathic tendencies also were a huge factor in the failure of that relationship.

* ''Webcomic/MagicalTwelfthGraders'': Namgung blames himself for Gyeowul's death, and wishes more than anything that he can fix it--but the wish that the pin grants can't be used to revive the dead. [[spoiler:He can, however, use it to turn back time, but he can't turn it back to before the moment where she died. He's still tried a dozen times]].

* ''Webcomic/EnnuiGo'': When [[SupermanSubstitute Omegaman]] was just starting out as a hero, a woman in Florida drove a car into the ocean, presumably killing her two daughters. He never found the girls, and the case has haunted him ever since. Of course, those two girls are main character Izzy and her sister Adelaide, and when Omegaman finds this out, he...doesn't take it well.
-->'''Izzy''' Omegaman, that was me. Me and my sister are those girls.\\
'''Omegaman:''' ''(beat)'' [[FlatWhat What]]. [[ThatLiarLies You're lying]].\\
'''Izzy:''' I'm not. It happened a little over fifteen years ago. Our mom's name is Morrigan. We lived on the south side of Costa Noche, Florida.\\
'''Omegaman:''' Stop it.\\
'''Izzy:''' She liked heroin and everclear. She had a Ninety-Two Honda Accord, that's what she drove into the bay.\\
'''Omegaman:''' '''STOP IT!'''\\
'''Izzy:''' Omegaman, I still have my old library card from when–\\
'''Omegaman:''' ''(unmasking, revealing his face)'' I'm '''SORRY''', okay?! I looked for you! I looked '''EVERYWHERE''' for you! But the police gave up and I'm not a detective like Miss Mantis! I was just some kid who got powers! [[HeroicBSOD What kind of superhero can't save two little girls?]]

* ''{{WebVideo/Gameboys}}'': Cairo, when he ran away in fear when he was outed to his family. His father got sick of COVID-19 while looking for him, and eventually passes away. His older brother London is upset with him over this. The two siblings get better, though.

--->'''Guru:''' [[{{Pun}} Nailed it.]]

The hero will often declare "ItsAllMyFault" while their friends and family say "YouDidEverythingYouCould."

*** Captain Kirk failed to restrain his friend Commander Mitchell when he began exhibiting God-like powers, although he was warned by Mr. Spock. It wasn't until Mitchell killed a crewman and set about destroying the Enterprise that Kirk took action.
*** And prior to that, he was haunted for over a decade by the deaths of over 200 crewmen (including his CO) because he thought his hesitation in firing on the MonsterOfTheWeek allowed it to attack. It was only when he saw it would have made no difference that he accepted his choice.

*** In "The Bonding" the non-corporeal Koinonians chose not to interfere when their physical counterparts began a war that ultimately destroyed them. They view their failure to prevent this as a great shame.

-->'''Chakotay''' (to Tuvok): "She was working for them, you were working for her... was ''anyone'' on my ship working for ''me???''"

-->'''Hugh''': I've failed them all.

* Taako of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' [[spoiler:screwed up a transmutation spell during his cooking show that resulted in everyone who ate the samples of what he made getting poisoned and dying on the spot. Retroactively subverted when he learns, years later, that his jealous roadie Sazed had actually poisoned the food with arsenic.]]

*** Lwaxana Troi is shown to be going to great lengths to cover up what she sees as her greatest failure in the episode "Dark Page." [[spoiler: She blames herself for the accidental drowning of her first-born daughter & Deanna's older sister]].

* Taako of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' [[spoiler: screwed up a transmutation spell during his cooking show that resulted in everyone who ate the samples of what he made getting poisoned and dying on the spot. Retroactively subverted when he learns, years later, that his jealous roadie Sazed had actually poisoned the food with arsenic.]]
** Magnus also [[spoiler: deeply regrets his failure to protect Raven's Roost from Governor Kalen.]]
** Lucretia sees [[spoiler: her time in Wonderland]] as this.

* ''RolePlay/YuGiOhEastAcademy'': While he tries to deny it, Marcus clearly feels horrible about [[spoiler: the death of Sylvestre]].

* In the ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' play series: In part four, ''Gilded Cages'', it is suggested that for Mrs. Hawking this is [[spoiler: her very first attempt at superheroing, when she tried to help her maid Malaika steal food for her starving village in Singapore. Their attempts resulted in failure, Malaika losing her job and imprisoned, and herself forced to marry in exchange for her father providing relief to the village.]]

** Victor blames himself for [[spoiler: creating Zicterium and by extension, chemical warfare]] and continuing to research it at the urging of Isaac Beckford and the government, not realizing what they intended to do with it until it was too late. He considers it his personal mission to see that the knowledge of the above does not fall into anyone else's hands and any remaining stockpiles of it are located and destroyed before it can be used.
** Van Helsing deeply regrets actions he had taken during the Vampire War. [[spoiler: He had infiltrated the vampire community as a spy but found the vampires not to be a threat to humanity and tried to advocate for them. But Finis forced him to betray and kill the vampires by holding his family hostage]]. He now dedicated all his time and energy into finding [[spoiler: Finis]] for one final revenge, not even caring if his life could be lost in the attempt.

** Amane: [[spoiler: When her entire class got stranded in a ravine after an accident, things went to hell, the situation escalated until the survivors resorted to eating their dead classmates, something Amane and her best friend Kazuki not participated in; in fact, Amane didn't even now they were doing that. When she and Kazuki try to escape, the crazed survivors try to chase them down and Amane is forced to leave Kazuki behind. She feels personally responsible for Kazuki's death, living the rest of her life believing she does not deserve happiness.]]
** Sachi: [[spoiler: After her previously caring parents grow distant to her, being buried by work, Sachi doubles her effort both in school and home the earn their attention, but with little success. An entire year of neglect later on her 10th birthday, her parents seemingly come around suddenly, which angers Sachi and she runs away. Just when her parents find her at the local playground, they are run over by a truck right in front of Sachi's eyes. She convinces that it was her fault, for not being reasonable, and toughing out the neglect, this belief leads to severe mental issues for her.]]

* ''VisualNovel/MonsterProm'': In a secret route, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Liam]] reveals that he has two: [[spoiler: getting [[TheNthDoctor the second Hope]] killed, which led to his fractured relationship with the Coven, and choosing [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Angelus]] as his villain name]].
* Ed from ''VisualNovel/{{Policenauts}}'' can't use a gun anymore because of [[spoiler: shooting Marc's father in front of Marc, who was revealed to be Ridley, Tony's brother. However, he does use a gun when he [[BigDamnHeroes saves Jonathan from being shot by Gates]]]].

*** After that is the realization that the Familicide spell V used during said FaceHeelTurn [[spoiler: wound up being responsible for the death of a staggering number of innocent people]].

--> '''Izzy''' Omegaman, that was me. Me and my sister are those girls.
--> '''Omegaman:''' *''beat''* [[FlatWhat What.]] [[ThatLiarLies You're lying]].
--> '''Izzy:''' I'm not. It happened a little over fifteen years ago. Our mom's name is Morrigan. We lived on the south side of Costa Noche, Florida.
--> '''Omegaman:''' Stop it.
--> '''Izzy:''' She liked heroin and everclear. She had a Ninety-Two Honda Accord, that's what she drove into the bay.
--> '''Omegaman:''' '''STOP IT!'''
--> '''Izzy:''' Omegaman, I still have my old library card from when-
--> '''Omegaman:''' *''unmasking, revealing his face.''* I'm '''SORRY''', okay?! I looked for you! I looked '''EVERYWHERE''' for you! But the police gave up and I'm not a detective like Miss Mantis! I was just some kid who got powers! [[HeroicBSOD What kind of superhero can't save two little girls?]]

* ''{{WebVideo/Gameboys}}'' -- Cairo, when he ran away in fear when he was outed to his family. His father got sick of COVID-19 while looking for him, and eventually passes away. His older brother London is upset with him over this. The two siblings get better, though.

** Agent Carolina is this in SO many spades over her previous [[CompetitionFreak overly-competitive]] nature to please her disconnected father so long ago, where she had a great many opportunities to drive off her self-destructive path of proving herself to Project Freelancer, with the Project itself destroying the other Freelancers' lives over time during its ruinous slog of development of its AI Fragments during the years of its activity. she definitely feels multiple ripples of this '''BIG time''' after many of her former comrades died, earning the eternal vengeance of an [[PlayingWithFire inferno-obsessed]] [[PyroManiac pyromaniac]] and seemingly [[ButForMeItWasTuesday forgets a time]] she accidentally killed a '''very''' dear friend of a Simulation Trooper, thus having him vengefully haunt her later on in the future and giving her a VERY '''[[WaxMuseumMorgue horrific]]''' view of what happened to the other surviving agents leftover from the disbanded Project Freelancer. She especially gives [[spoiler: a past version of herself a '''very scathing''' "talk" involving her aforementioned self-destructive victory-obsessed-self, essentially [[IHatePastMe hating on her past-self a very great deal.]] ]]

* [[MyGreatestFailure/{{Film}} Film - Live-Action]]

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife''. Manolo's father tells his son when he is very small that he will grow up to be the greatest of the Sanchezes. But when Manolo [[spoiler: refuses to kill the bull]], he reacts [[IHaveNoSon very badly]]. But when Manolo lives up to his heroic destiny, his father says that Manolo has indeed become the greatest of the Sanchezes.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' sees Elsa harbor a great deal of shame for her powers nearly killing her sister on accident when they were children, causing her to become cold and distant from Anna as they got older. [[spoiler: It's thanks to the events of the film that she's able to overcome this and rekindle her relationship with her sister, allowing her to move on with her life free of the guilt.]]
** However, this comes right back around in ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'' when Elsa and Anna's quests to Northuldra lead them to learn [[spoiler: the journey on which their parents died was because they were attempting to try and learn the cause of Elsa's powers]], causing Elsa to blame herself for what happened to them. [[spoiler: Again, it's the film's events that allow her to move past this regret.]]

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''

See ILetGwenStacyDie for one of the most common failures. Might result in WeUsedToBeFriends. Often happens to heroes who fail to [[MustMakeAmends make amends]]. Can be a CareerBuildingBlunder. When the failure is what put the character on the path to being the current (better) person s/he is now, it's NecessaryFail. If the plot brings about an opportunity to correct or make up for their failure, you have MyGreatestSecondChance. If failure puts the hero in a funk that takes years to shake off then you have a ScrapHeapHero. Also compare to OldShame, which is often what drives this mindset.

** Van Helsing deeply regrets actions he had taken during the Vampire War. [[spoiler: He had infiltrated the vampire community as a spy but found the vampires not to be a threat to humanity and tried to advocate for them. But Finis forced him to betray and kill the vampires by holding his family hostage]]. He now dedicates all his time and energy into finding a certain someone to get his revenge.

* In ''VisualNovel/CodeRealize'', Victor blames himself for [[spoiler: creating Zicterium and by extension, chemical warfare]] and continuing to research it at the urging of Isaac Beckford and the government, not realizing what they intended to do with it until it was too late. He considers it his personal mission to see that the knowledge of the above does not fall into anyone else's hands and any remaining stockpiles of it are located and destroyed before it can be used.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', this is how Green Sun Princes become Green Sun Princes. They're on the edge of a heroic, epic act that would grant them Solar Exaltation... but then they choke, and then, in their moment of weakness, despair, and regret, the [[EldritchAbomination Yozis]] are there to offer them the DealWithTheDevil that grants them the Infernal Exaltation.
* For decades in ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', [[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt Do'Urden]] had kept a vow to [[ApeShallNeverKillApe never kill another dark elf]]. However, he couldn't keep it forever, and in order to escape, he had to kill one of his kin. He was guilt-wracked for this... but, in a possible subversion, not for long, as he realized it was a hypocritical vow, given that he had often seen the necessity of killing orcs, humans, goblins, duergar, wererats, and others who actually tended to be less AlwaysChaoticEvil than his own people. In addition, the primary reason he had been able to keep that vow for so long was that he had been able to ''avoid'' other members of his race for most of that time, and being able to keep a vow because you never end up in a situation where breaking it is possible doesn't mean all that much.
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe, the vast Imperium of Man has its own greatest failure during the end of the Great Crusade. During the beginning, it was believed that there was nothing science and reason couldn't conquer. [[EldritchAbomination And then they met Chaos...]]. Horus rebelled, the Emperor was placed upon the Golden Throne, and suddenly the Imperium became very suspicious of itself. [[KillItWithFire So new measures were taken to make sure such heresy never happened again]].
** Another 40K example is Sarpedon of the Soul Drinkers, who nearly led his Chapter into the clutches of the Dark Gods... and has ''eight legs'' to remind him of the danger of Chaos.

* The Dwarfs of TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} consider the Chaos Dwarfs this. [[EvilCounterpart They are everything the Dwarfs are not]], forsaking the ancestor gods for the Chaos God Hashut, taking slaves instead of relying on good Dwarfen labor, allying with Greenskins instead of exterminating them on sight, and immediately putting new technology to use instead of relying on tried and true tradition. All this, combined with the utter shame of having their own people betray everything that is sacrosanct to them, means that the Dwarfs, to this day, prefer to pretend they don't exist and utterly refuse to speak of the Chaos Dwarfs. [[BerserkButton And if you know what's good for you, so will you.]]

--->'''Guru:''' [[IncrediblyLamePun Nailed it.]]

* Mr. Incredible in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' blames himself for spurning Buddy (later known as Syndrome), his biggest fan. Later, Buddy turns to evil. Subverted as Buddy points out that Mr. Incredible hadn't given him a single thought until he became Syndrome.