History Main / NeverBeHurtAgain

** In Volume 6, the heroes confront [[BigGood Ozpin]] about his secrets, lying and truth-hiding, with Yang claiming they'll stand by him even knowing the truth. Ozpin reveals that a close friend of his once promised the same thing, only to [[TheMole betray him]] to [[BigBad Salem]], and that wasn't even the first time such a thing had happened; while he doesn't think Team RWBY's betrayal is a certainty, this has happened too many times for him to chance it. [[spoiler:They ask the [[ArtifactOfPower Relic of Knowledge]] to reveal the truth anyway, and then [[BrokenPedestal turn on Ozpin]] exactly as he expected, causing him to [[HeroicBSOD retreat]] into the [[SharingABody back of Oscar's mind]] in despair. In Volume 7, the heroes struggle with the same dilemma of whether to share the truth with Ironwood or keep it secret, learning the hard way just how easy it is to make the wrong decision. In Volume 8, they reconcile with Ozpin after he apologises for his secrecy, and they admit they've now learned just how complicated trust and the truth really are.]]
** Volume 3 reveals that [[TheHeavy Cinder]] is motivated by the desire to be strong, powerful and feared. Volume 8 reveals that it's because she knows what it's like to be weak, powerless and fearful. [[spoiler:An orphan "adopted" by an Atlesian hotelier to work as a legal slave, Cinder was subjected to abuse and torment. Her only hope of escape lay with a Huntsman who secretly trained her to pass the Huntsman Academy entrance exam; the catch was that she'd have to endure years of torture until she was old enough to take the exam. She [[RageBreakingPoint eventually snaps]] and slaughters her adoptive family, and also her mentor when he [[ToBeLawfulOrGood tries to arrest her]]. Since then, she has sought to become as powerful and dominant as possible to ensure she's never vulnerable again, even if it turns her into a monster; unfortunately, Salem is a far more intelligent and manipulative abuser than her adoptive mother was, and is also [[CompleteImmortality impossible to kill]].]]

* In the Italian movie ''Il Primo Re'', the would-be founders of Rome all just want to become a force strong enough to defend themselves: Romulus and Remus have lost their flock of sheep and [[spoiler:their native village]] to the Albani, their first followers were people the Albani wanted to ''sacrifice to the gods'' alongside the two brothers, and the Velientes are refugees from places raided by the Albani and [[spoiler:lose their village to Remus' madness]]. They succeed even before founding Rome, as right before [[DoomedByCanon Remus' fated death]] they are reached by Albani horsemen chasing the would-be sacrifice victims and kill them all.

* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' this is the driving motivation for TokenEvilTeammate Astarion. For two centuries he was abused by his [[IHateYouVampireDad vampire master Cazador]], and after escaping seeks a way to kill him so he won't have to spend the rest of eternity looking over his shoulder. He's [[LovableRogue profoundly selfish]] and refuses to stick his neck out for others due to a belief that NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished, in part due to conditioning from his master that forced him to adhere to this belief to survive.

* Makoto Shinjou from ''Nyanta and Pomeko'' used to be a well-liked kid but was relegated to a pariah in the eyes of his friends and family due to a series of misunderstandings and rumors. Upon reaching high school, his reputation is all but ruined and he has lost all his trust in people. Whenever someone wants to talk to him, he immediately brushes them off so he wouldn't experience the same pain over and over again. He wouldn't give his former crushes and his sister the time of day to reconcile with him since [[YouAreTooLate their realizations were already too late]].

* Makoto Shinjou from ''Nyanta and Pomeko'' used to be a well-liked kid but was relegated to a pariah in the eyes of his friends and family due to a series of misunderstandings. Upon reaching high school, his reputation is all but ruined and he has lost all his trust in people. Whenever someone wants to talk to him (be it an old or new classmate or his own sister), he immediately brushes them off so he wouldn't experience the same pain over and over again.

* Makoto Shinjou from ''Nyanta and Pomeko'' used to be a well-liked kid but was relegated to a pariah in the eyes of his friends and family due to a series of misunderstandings. Upon reaching high school, his reputation is all but ruined and he has lost all his trust in people. Whenever someone asks him to hang out with them, he immediately turns them down so he wouldn't experience the same pain over and over again.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** This is the reason behind Boa Hancock's behaviour. After [[spoiler:she and her sisters were made slaves in their childhood]], she put on a strong, cruel image to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. It caused her surrogate mother figure to fear Hancock had really grown cold as ice, but fortunately, Luffy's actions proved that it wasn't the case.

* ''Fanfic/TwoLetters'': After spending the better part of two years having her [[TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity generosity exploited]] as both a civilian and a superheroine, Marinette decides to [[TakeThisJobAndShoveIt quit being Ladybug]]... and, more importantly, to [[StoppedCaring stop caring]] about others, focusing entirely upon herself and her own needs. She's also deeply concerned about the possibility of being hurt again, to the point that [[spoiler:her past self set up several contingency plans with the intent of convincing her [[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnesiac]] future self to become TheUnfetttered, claiming that anything is justifiable so long as she secures her happy ending]].

* Deconstructed in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/48776269/chapters/123043462 Shielding Their Realms Forever]]'' for Sansa. Jon, having harbored a wave of ten-year-long anger with Sansa for several of her actions in the original timeline (such as not telling him about the Knights of the Vale joining them to retake Winterfell or exposing his true parentage right after he trusted her with his secret), is {{Peggy Sue}}d at the moment of his resurrection to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and fully defeat the Others. After reuniting with Sansa and making her believe his knowledge of the future was a vision he saw during his death, presses her on why she lied to him, driving her to tearfully admit that after Ned's unjust execution (which [[ItsAllMyFault she blames on herself]] for having been so insistent on marrying Joffrey even after Lady's death) and the subsequent abuses she suffered at the hands of Joffrey, Cersei, Littlefinger, and Ramsay, she's terrified of going back to being a helpless victim with no control over her life again. However, the way she went about it in the original timeline had her thinking she had to wear her trauma like a shield and think she was stronger for everything she faced, leading her to see everyone else as a potential enemy. Upon realizing that the original Sansa never properly healed from what she endured, Jon lets go of a large part of his past anger and takes it upon himself to keep the rebooted timeline version of her from going down that same path.

* The Pigeon Lady in ''Film/HomeAlone2LostInNewYork'' tells Kevin that she was hurt by a man who didn't love her back, so never let herself the possibility of having her heart broken again. That's why she was alone, [[spoiler: that, and the pigeon poop.]]

* This trope leads to the tragic ending of ''Anime/Danganronpa3: Despair''. Chiaki's [[LoveInterest friend]] Hajime disappears off the face of the earth, much to her sorrow. Months later, the same thing is about to happen to [[TeamMom Chisa]], so Chiaki panics and makes some [[LeeroyJenkins really crappy decisions]] in an attempt to save her.

* In ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', this pretty much describes the national character of the Taurian Concordat. Having been the subject of decades of raids by the Capellan Confederation and the Federated Suns before being bloodily invaded and subjugated by Star League during the War of Reunification (and subsequently winning their freedom by aiding in Star League's overthrow by Stefan Amaris), the Concordat is a small Periphery nation with universal {{Conscription}}, an oversized military focused entirely on national defence and a ''huge'' nuclear stockpile they're willing to unleash on anyone who violates their borders, Honours of War be damned.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': several justifications for falling to Chaos are protection against that god's particular domain. Mostly seen with Nurgle, the god of disease, whose followers are infested with pus-filled growths and oozing sores, but are no longer negatively affected by them, instead reveling in every new pox they develop.