History Sandbox / UnderCoverSailsman

* SmallTownTyrant: Mayor Jim Bob Buchanon of the ''Literature/ArlyHanks'' mysteries is a piggish petty tyrant of sorts, at least to the meager extent possible in a skint-broke town with less than 800 people. He falls short where genuine evil is concerned, due to incompetence and a tendency to fall prey when ''real'' villains KickTheSonOfABitch.

* FaceOfTheBand: InUniverse in ''Much Ado In Maggody'', in which country singer Matt Montana's band consists of four nearly identical guys with four-letter first names starting with "B", whom no one can tell apart. Even their manager only bothers to keep track of who's who because the drummer's the only one who can be trusted to drive the tour bus.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Joan Hess got tired of people calling the town of Maggody "Mah-goad-ee", so added some scenes where residents correct others' pronunciation, or rhyme it with "raggedy" in a song.

One of the archetypal Secret Identities is that of the RichIdiotWithNoDayJob. The family and friends of such a hero are usually at risk of [[VillainOverForDinner having tea with the villain]]. Other good personas include the RidiculouslyAverageGuy, TheNondescript, or TheGenericGuy.

* VomitingCop: Chief Hanks herself occasionally pukes, particularly in ''The Merry Wives Of Maggody'' [[spoiler:in which she has morning sickness as well as corpses to deal with]].

[[index]]

[[/index]]

* KitschyLocalComercial: In ''The Merry Wives of Maggody'', the boat salesman who contributed the bass boat to the golf tournament is first seen filming a commercial that was ''meant'' to feature a bad pun about taking the bull by the horns, but the bull rented for the filming kept wandering off.

* {{Tontine}}: The men of Maggody arrange a tontine for possession of the bass boat in ''Merry Wives of Maggody'', apparently not aware that such a document is illegal and unenforceable. Roy Stiver Lampshades how tontines had never made much sense to begin with, even in mystery novels.

* ArsonMuderAndJaywalking:

* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: Mrs. JimBob's mother taught her that a proper wife should lie back and think of England. She takes this recommendation literally, although she'd never understood what England had to do with a small-town Arkansas woman's sex life.

[[Administrivia/TropesNeedingExamples This is a Pothole]]

Administrivia/TropesNeedingExamples

[[redirect:Administrivia/TropesNeedingExamples]]

'''Catagory:Needs Help'''
StockEpisodeTitles and StockSubtitle are fraternal-twin concepts that have some very similar issues. I've got some grave concerns on whether or not they are "Tropeworthy." On the one hand: these are certainly patterns that keep coming up in media, which is certainly on-mission here. On the other: I did wick checks, and could not identify a single example of either that looked like an actual, crosswickable example-with-context.

The main page for StockEpisodeTitles is a list of common episode names, arranged by number of IMDB entries with that episode title. Pretty much all the links on the page are either to IMDB, or See Also[=/=]Don't confuse with wicks. Essentially no wicks to episodes that are using these titles. The Wick Check:

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StockSubtitle is arranged a bit differently. This one actually links to works[=/=]episodes with the subtitles, arranged alphabetically by subtitle. This page may also contain titles that use the "subtitle" word as part of the title without it actually being a subtitle.

This page also lists Several subtropes that may need attention themselves. Those might best be handled separately, but TitleRequiem has it's own Sandbox/TitleRequiemWickCheck done, if it appears to require similar treatment.

The Wick Check:


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I'm having a difficult time imagining an actual entry for either of these that isn't DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment ShapedLikeItself. Perhaps they should be treated more as indexes?

!!Exceptions, Subversions and Variations:

* Despite their superpowers, they still want to have a normal life during those times when they are not fighting crime or evil, and they want to keep that normal life separate from their life as a superhero. Especially if they're a {{vigilante}} and what they do is against the law.

[[FolderControl]]

!!! Current project: drafting pre-TLPs for fainting tropes

!!Freak Out Fainting


Some characters are [[NervesOfSteel naturally calm]] in highly emotional situations. Others keep a StiffUpperLip. And some... faint dead away!

This is TruthInTelevision to an extent - There is a reason that doctors [[BreakingBadNewsGently tell you to sit down]] when they need to discuss bad news. Basically, the body's Fight-or-Flight response can overreact and momentarily reduce blood-flow to the brain. [[note]]See the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncope_(medicine)#Neurally_mediated_syncope Other Wiki]] for more details[[/note]]

In RealLife, this is fairly rare. Certain regions of fictionland, however, take it as a daily matter of course:

Romance period novels leaned into this, as part of their WomenAreDelicate assumptions, to the extent that Creator/JaneAusten lampooned and parodied the concept to the point of ridicule in her novella Literature/LoveAndFreindship, which she wrote at age 15!
-> Beware of fainting-fits… though at the time they may be refreshing and agreeable, yet believe me: they will, in the end, if too often repeated and at improper seasons, prove destructive to your constitution.

A big staple of '50s era monster/alien movies was to have a young, nubile heroine faint when she saw a hideous monster, alien, or gorilla coming toward her. Usually into the approaching monster/alien/gorilla's arms. Whereas in real life, faints last only a few seconds, these movies ''more often than not'' have it last several hours, or at least many minutes, basically as long as the plot requires. The "monster carrying an unconscious girl" motif was so popular during the '50s pulp movie era that [[TouchOfTheMonster movie posters would frequently feature a monstrous creature carrying a girl]], even if ''[[CoversAlwaysLie no such scene appeared in the movie]]''.

It is possible for this idea to be used realistically, but most examples are of stereotypically "feminine" women and girls. In a pinch, it is sometimes used to illustrate that a man is particularly cowardly or weak. Such a man often lets out a [[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl little girly scream]] before succumbing.

The DramaQueen might fake this to get attention. The GuileHeroine may fake it to create a distraction, or to appear [[PlayingPossum weak and helpless]].

'''This trope is not necessarily associated with negative emotions. Some characters faint when they are too giddy with excitement'''

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* Tubby does this as the end of Episode 20 of the ''Anime/LittleLulu'' anime, in response to his mother telling him that he'll be spending extra time on his violin lessons.

* A RunningGag in ''Anime/OnePieceFilmStrongWorld'' is Xiao's tendency to faint whenever she's surprised. Because of how easy she is to surprise, she faints all the time.
** Chapter 742 of the series proper has an example which is both serious (due to being a plot point) and hilarious: [[spoiler:Usopp is fed the fake grape that was intended to knock Sugar out. He screams so loudly and makes such a horrifying expression that it causes Sugar to scream her lungs out in return, and she faints as a result]].

* In ''Anime/PleaseTwins'', Karen fainting at ''any'' surprise or stress is a running gag, though like many such things, it tapers off as the series goes on. Becomes [[FunnyAneurysmMoment a bit less amusing]] when you consider the parent series, ''Anime/PleaseTeacher,'' which had a condition called Standstill, in which a person can spend ''years'' in a coma-like condition (without aging) after too much extreme emotion. One of these days, Karen might not wake up for a ''long'' time...
* Barnaby in Anime/TigerAndBunny faints in Episode 19. With good reason, as because he's been plagued by recurring nightmares about his parents' death (which he thought he'd begun to put behind him after [[spoiler:seemingly finding their killer]]), and as a result has barely eaten or slept recently. When trying to discuss his fears with Kotetsu, Barnaby breaks down in tears and then passes out. '''Questionable: Due to stress/distress or exhaustion?'''
* ''Anime/TheWonderfulWorldOfPussInBoots'': Played straight when the [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe kidnapped]] Princess Rosa sees Lucifer, a powerful ogre sorcerer, transform into a [[ScaledUp three-headed dragon]] while facing off against her rescuers. Though it wasn't the transformation itself that gets her, it's when one of his hideous, [[SnakesAreSinister snake-like heads]] slowly starts approaching her. She faints before he can come any closer.


* Emma of ''Manga/VictorianRomanceEmma'' faints at a ball, partly because her corset is laced too tightly and from seeing William with Eleanor.

* [[ShrinkingViolet Hinata]] of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is often depicted fainting whenever Naruto "surprises" her by randomly popping up inches away from her. In {{canon}}, she only did so once after seeing him for the first time in two years, and after that it's made patently clear that [[CharacterDevelopment she dropped all of her]] ShrinkingViolet tendencies during the TimeSkip, but {{filler}} episodes, spin-offs, and fanfic [[CharacterExaggeration have her do it more]].
** Sakura faints during her academy graduation exam when her instructor Kakashi tricks her into seeing a hallucination of her teammate and crush Sasuke horrifically wounded and dying.
** Soon after waking up from that faint, she runs into the ''real'' Sasuke, who was almost buried by Kakashi a little while ago, with only his head still left aboveground, mistakes this for Sasuke's severed head, and promptly faints dead away again right in front of him. By the time she wakes up from the second faint, Sasuke has already managed to un-bury himself on his own.
** By the sequel ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'', Sakura seems to have officially taken over Hinata as the fainter of the franchise. She faints in shock when Sasuke returns home unannounced after a long absence, and also when she realizes that she has accidentally destroyed her house with her super strength. In the latter case, Shizune (who is a skilled medical ninja) examines her and concludes that the shock has knocked her out so deep that there's no point trying to wake her up and that she'll stay totally out cold until ''tomorrow''. Shizune then remarks that Sakura used to be a frequent fainter during her teenage years too.
* In ''Manga/{{Tsukigasa}}'', Azuma faints when Kuroe kills the robbers and it brings up trauma from when he hurt Kuroe.
* In ''Manga/PrisonSchool'', Kiyoshi and Hana hide under a bed in the school nurse's room, both naked from the waist down. The proximity to Hana causes Kiyoshi to get an involuntary erection that directly touches Hana's bare privates. Hana not only passes out from embarrassment right then and there, but passes out so deep and hard that she wakes up on the bed much later on with ''zero recollection'' of the incident.
** Hana later attempts revenge on Kiyoshi by stealing his [[SacredFirstKiss first kiss]] so that he can't share it with [[LoveInterest Chiyo]]. Kiyoshi turns it around when he realizes that Hana is extremely innocent when it comes to romance, and deliberately deepens the kiss into full-on making out. The shock of being kissed ''with tongue'' for the first time in her life (by someone she secretly harbors feelings for, no less) straight-up ''scrambles'' her mind, shutting her brain down completely as she goes limp in his arms.
** Meiko from the same series occasionally faints too, usually when accidentally subjected to the sights of other people's privates that she's not expecting to see, and sometimes stays unconscious for even longer than Hana.
** Andre passes out when two different dommes command him to serve them at the same time and he can't decide which one to obey.

* ''Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor''. When the ship is haunted by a ghost, Yuriko Star forces her cowardly captain to search for his first officer, whom Tylor ordered to confront the ghost because he was too scared to do so himself. Yuriko ends up fainting when she's confronted by a skeleton, much to Tylor's surprise. The ship's nurse explains that Yuriko was suppressing her fear, and the sudden shock caused all her emotions to come out at once.
* ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFumoffu'',
** In the WhatDoTheyFearEpisode, Kaname is scared out of her wits by all the spooky stuff in the AbandonedHospital she takes Souske through to try and scare him. It's revealed that all the scary things they encountered were actually tricks performed by a group of kids, who were helping out a man nicknamed Gen-san, who wanted to stay undisturbed in the hospital; he kept getting harshly picked on, so they came up with those tricks to make everyone stay away from the hospital. The kids mention, however, that the old lady Sousuke and Kaname spotted ''wasn't'' one of their tricks; Gen-san notes that she was probably the ghost of a woman who died in a fire years ago. Kaname turns blue and faints before he can even finish his sentence.
** And when Sousuke tells the teacher that a lethal bacteriological weapon has been released in class, she keels over and spends the rest of the episode unconscious. Which is just as well, given all the lunacy that happens.
* Death the Kid from ''Manga/SoulEater'' has SuperOCD and is absolutely obsessed with symmetry. As a result, he faints after Soul cuts a couple of centimetres off one side of his hair, as this meant it was not perfectly symmetrical any more.
** He also has a complete breakdown and passes out after he erases too hard and tears his test paper.
** This seems to happen any time he is not perfectly symmetrical. Liz mentions that if he tried to not use GunsAkimbo, "he'd get a {{Nosebleed}} and pass out". However, this only seems to apply to Kid himself. if he encounters an asymmetrical enemy, he's more likely to fight back with UnstoppableRage.
* In the 2003 version of ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', Ed faints after seeing the corpse of a murdered woman, as it reminded him of his deceased mother, and of how she CameBackWrong.
* In ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'', Takami "Komo" Komoda faints after learning that she and the other pilots are doomed to die after their battles. Komo's mother also faints after learning that her daughter will be next to fight and die.
* Happens to Himespetchi in ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}! Yume Kira Dream'' episode 3 after she sees Mametchi and Yumemitchi holding hands and thinks it's because they love each other (Mametchi, the object of Himespetchi's affection, was actually just helping Yumemitchi when she was about to trip). Himespetchi stays unconscious for a part of the episode afterwards, and Yumemitchi and Kiraritchi go to use their Yume Kira Bags to help Himespetchi regain consciousness.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Played painfully straight in ''[[Comicbook/XMen Uncanny X-Men]]'' issue 148, when Kitty Pryde (thirteen years old if even that at the time) faints when kidnapped by Caliban (whom we were meeting for the first time, and who was much creepier than his later appearances would make him, but ''still...'')
* Even more painful in ''Uncanny X-Men'' issue 11, where after ''The Stranger'' walks on air and through a wall, someone utters these gentlemanish words:
--> "Someone get a '''doctor!''' Women are faintin' like '''flies''' over here!!"
* Papa Smurf collapses in a faint in ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' comic book story "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything" when he gets so frustrated with his little Smurfs being so dependent on the titular book that he stamps his feet in anger.
* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'': In ''The Castafiore Emerald''. Bianca Castafiore and her assistant Irma faint when they hear that her jewels have been stolen. In ''The Seven Crystal Balls'' Madame Yamilah is a FaintingSeer.
* In ''{{ComicBook/Violine}}'', Violine faints when hearing that [[spoiler: Muller is Marushka's brother, and her "mother" is actually Marushka, her father's former governess]]
* In ''ComicBook/BlackScience'' Sara passes out from stress on hearing that Grant was chasing their daughter on the street outside their home, presumably for murder reasons.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''FanFic/HomeWithTheFairies'', Maddie faints when she first sees an elf, one of an InhumanlyBeautifulRace. Before she faints, she feels "a strange preternatural sense of both awe and fear"; the elf "looks so perfect it was painful". Someone picks up Maddie and moves her to a bed, where she either eventually fell into a normal sleep or remained completely unconscious until the next morning.
* In ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'', Kyon's mother, who was until this point mentioned several times how she doesn't want Kyon to become a [[JapaneseDelinquents delinquent]], faints when she is told about her son's relationship with a {{Yakuza}} family. A relationship which, ironically, she was a strong supporter.
* John faints in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'' when he sees himself in the mirror for the first time and realizes that he's grown wings. He'd kind of worked himself up to it, given that he'd awakened in a strange bed, starving to death, with a growing panicky awareness that something was terribly, terribly wrong with him...
* Calvin faints in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' when his dad suggests getting a pug (after he'd spent the entire episode watching over one). In addition, Hobbes (a stuffed tiger to Dad) slumps over, and the MTM shuts itself off.

* Combined with Exhaustion in the (now discontinued) Star Trek fanfic ''And The Stars Were Shining Bright'' where Maddie (exhausted from no sleep, hasn't eaten in a couple of days, not to mention worried sick for her captive father) faints when she sees that the man she's contacted to kill is the same man who helped her flee a dangerous situation some fifteen months previously.
* ''FanFic/EscapeFromTheMoon'': In the sequel ''The Mare From the Moon'', this is Spliced's reaction when she finds out that, contrary to what she'd believed, that she ''can'' walk on clouds.
* ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia''
** Inko Midoriya passes out after learning that her son Izuku is the leader of a team with three other gorgeous women his age because she's terrified of becoming a grandmother too soon. When she finally meets them in person, she passes out again when Nora's vague wording brings Inko to the conclusion that Izuku is in a polygamous relationship with every member of Team MNVW.
** Izuku himself has been on the verge of passing out from sheer embarrassment several occasions. When [[spoiler:he and Yang start dating]], his legs buckle out from underneath him when he realizes that he's clenching her hand. After this, Nora reveals to Team TABY that he has an entire box of condoms that he got from his mother, who sent them to him not long after he officially began attending Beacon. Izuku proceeds to have a brief mental shutdown when Tenya starts accusing him of being a serial philanderer over this. Finally, he passes out while standing up when Nora convinces Team MADE that he's some kind of SexGod when she tells them that he "finger-banged" (used Glenn Smash against) Yang ten times in the middle of sparring class. His team has to drag him back to their dorm room by the scruff of his hoodie.
** Shoto has to go UndressingTheUnconscious when Weiss is caught in a frigid blizzard and passes out, since he needs to get her cold, wet clothes off of her. Later, when Weiss learns this, the idea he saw her naked leaves her [[NakedFreakOut so embarrassed]] that she faints on the spot.
* In ''Fanfic/MyMasterEd'', Hohenheim passes out and falls on his face after seeing Edward can create gold, which leaves him terrified that he’d been joking with and mocking [[GodGuise a god in disguise]] and causing his tolerance for weirdness to finally be exhausted.
* ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', Inko gets light-headed after learning that Izuku had unknowingly confronted and gained the respect of a member of the yakuza. Izuku's first meeting with Lexi Luthor that same year leaves him so unnerved and terrified that he passes out in the snow as soon as her limo drives away.
* ''Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers'' has had Luigi faint from the shock of a Chain Chomp.
* In ''Fanfic/MustLoveNedFlanders'', a fanfiction of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Naomi faints three times: when she meets Homer, when she meets Ned, and when Ned proposes to her. She's also knocked out at the beginning.
-->'''Naomi''': "I've probably been unconscious for at least half of this book."
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfics:
** In ''Fanfic/LincolnIsDone'', Clyde passes out when he sees or mentions his crush Lori (canonically, this sometimes happens but more often he just acts awkward and/or gets a {{nosebleed}}).
** In ''Fanfic/WhatYouWishFor'', Lori passes out when she finds out that Lincoln isn't in the photo album.
* In the ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' fanfic [[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/7712514/1/Happy-New-Year Happy New Year]], Alesha Philips does this in shock upon being greeted by the very much alive DS Matt Devlin, who she's been mourning for the past few months. (The backstory reveals that he was spirited away to recover from his injuries while his loved ones were told he was dead in order to protect them.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* In 1995's ''Film/{{Casper}}'', both sassy teenager Kat and her father, James Harvey, faint (the former from meeting the ghostly hero for the first time, and the latter when Casper's trouble making uncles pull a surprise NightmareFace on the Dr.
* ''Film/SleepyHollow1999'': In TheMovie, the 'cowardly' Ichabod Crane is the hero and can't very well show true cowardice, so he tends to stick out any dangerous situation (like, say, any time the Headless Horseman shows up and makes with the [[OffWithHisHead headchopping]]) and then pass out once it's over.
* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. During the meeting with the Wizard, each member of Dorothy's group is called forward to face him. When it's the Cowardly Lion's turn, he faints dead away.
* Guy's girly-faint upon seeing the evil reptilian aliens for the first time in ''Film/GalaxyQuest''.
* Happened to love interest Pike (not to be confused with ''Spike'' from the TV series) several times over the course of [[Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer the [=BtVS=] movie]], to the point where it became a running gag.
* Stirling from ''Film/KitKittredgeAnAmericanGirl'' does this twice after discovering hobos.
* Captain Spaulding does this in ''[[Creator/TheMarxBrothers Animal Crackers]]'' as Mrs. Rittenhouse is hailing him for fearlessly journeying through DarkestAfrica.
* ''Film/{{Water 1985}}''. Baxter Thwaites threatens to blow up the Spenco well using dynamite strapped to a member of the Cascaran Liberation Front. He holds a cigarette lighter to the fuse until everyone else puts down their weapons, whereupon the bomb guy promptly faints.

* ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina''. Gracie Law is kidnapped by one of Lo Pan's monsters. When she faces it head on, she screams in terror at its horrible visage and faints. The monster puts her over its shoulder and carries her away.
* In ''Film/Frankenstein1970'', Judy faints when she opens the door of her bedroom (expecting to see Mike) and is instead confronted by the monster. [[spoiler:It is possible that she actually dies of fright at this point, as in the next scene she is lying dead in Victor's lab with no indication of how she died.]]
* A classic example in ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast1946'': Belle faints upon seeing the Beast for the first time, and he tenderly carries her through the castle to a bed, her peasant garb magically changing to a [[GorgeousPeriodDress princess-worthy gown]] along the way.
* In ''Film/DickTracyDetective'', Tess faints when she looks up and sees the Splitface looming over her; his [[TwoFaced deformed visage]] leering at her and a huge knife clutched in his hand.
* In ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', upon seeing Sonic for the first time, Maddie's sister Rachel barely has enough time to ask her young daughter to catch her before passing out.
* In ''Film/APlaceInTheSun'', Elizabeth Taylor's character Angela is told that her LoveInterest George is likely to be sentenced to the electric chair. She calmly thanks her mother for allowing her to hear this information before walking back into her room. There, she stands dazed for a few seconds, and, in what is widely considered perhaps the single best faint in film history, crashes ''hard'' and limp onto the floor without the even tiniest movement to break her fall, as though already utterly out like a light before she even began to plunge down.
** ''[[Film/LizAndDick Liz & Dick]]'' possibly pays homage to this by having Liz faint in a similarly no-nonsense manner upon hearing of Dick's death.
* In the [[TheMovie cinematic]] [[GrandFinale series finale]] of ''Film/OurMissBrooks'', [[spoiler:Mr. Conklin faints when he learns the position he's been campaigning for pays only a nominal amount.]]
* In ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'', Sarah faints when she realizes Alan is standing on her doorstep, because she had thought he was gone forever.
* ''Film/TheIncredibleMrLimpet''. When George Stickel hears the supposedly drowned Henry Limpet's voice coming from the sea, he faints dead away--probably because he thinks he's hearing Henry's ghost.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'':
** Doc Brown faints at the end of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' after Marty (whom he had just sent away in the time machine) reappears behind him.
-->''[Doc screams upon seeing Marty]''\\
'''Marty:''' Doc, calm down, okay, it's me! It's Marty!\\
'''Doc:''' It can't be! I just sent you [[TitleDrop back to the future!]]\\
'''Marty:''' I know, Doc, you ''did'' send me back to the future, but I'm back. I'm back ''from'' the future.\\
'''Doc:''' ''[[CatchPhrase Great... Scott!]]'' ''[faints dead away]''
** Earlier on in the same movie, Marty's girlfriend Jennifer is accidentally brought into her future home. As she's about to leave, she comes across the 2015 version of herself:
-->'''Jennifer (seventeen):''' ''[gasps]'' I'M ''OLD!!''\\
'''Jennifer (forty-seven):''' ''[gasps]'' I'M ''YOUNG!!''\\
''[both faint simultaneously]''
** Both of these faints also last quite unrealistically long. Doc explicitly predicts in ''Part II'' that Jennifer would stay unconscious for at least several hours based on the severity of the shock she experienced (which very rarely happens in real life), and this turns out to be true. Doc himself faints late in the night and wakes up early next morning many hours later, whereas the unconscious Jennifer, soon after passing out, is placed on her house's front porch swing early on in the night, and it is already almost ''noon the next day'' by the time she finally wakes up from her faint in ''Part III'', meaning that she stays totally out cold for more than ''half a day''.
* In ''Film/JurassicPark'', Alan Grant starts to faint upon Hammond's big reveal of living dinosaurs.
* In ''Film/TheNotebook'', Allie faints during her wedding dress fitting when she sees Noah's picture in the newspaper.
* ''Film/{{Superman}}''
** InvokedTrope: Clark pretends to faint as a cover-up for his BulletCatch in the alley.
** A helicopter crash almost causes Lois Lane to fall to her death. Superman makes his first public appearance by catching and saving both her and the falling helicopter. After he deposits her on the top of a building and flies away, she watches Superman fly away before immediately collapsing atop the helipad in a dead faint.
* In the Director's Cut of ''Film/{{Superman II}}'', Lois becomes so sure that Clark is Superman that she jumps out of the window of her office in the Daily Planet building right in front of Clark, believing that he'll expose himself as Superman as he tries to save her. He breaks her fall in a way that doesn't break his disguise, allowing her to land safely on top of a tomato vendor's stand on the street below, and appears back upstairs as Clark at the window by the time Lois looks up again. The (incorrect) realization that Clark ''isn't'' Superman after all, along with the embarrassment of what she's done, as well as the knowledge of how easily she could have killed herself doing so, instantly sends Lois passing out cold into the pile of tomatoes she landed on top of.
* ''Film/{{Superman Returns}}'' contains an homage to the original faint scene from the 1978 film: an aircraft malfunction almost kills the entirety of its passengers, amongst whom is Lois, who at this point has already given up the hope of Superman returning from his many-years-long absence and no longer believes that the world needs him. Superman makes his first public reappearance by saving the aircraft and landing it safely in a packed sports arena. He then personally speaks solely to Lois, echoing their conversation on the helipad in the original film. Completely overwhelmed, Lois follows him out the aircraft's exit and once again watches speechlessly as he flies away into the sky before she drops and slides limply down the plane's inflated evacuation slide, dead unconscious.
* Happens twice in ''Film/Batman1989'':
** When Jack Napier's girlfriend Alicia Hunt comes home and discovers not only that he's not dead but that he's turned into the Joker, she faints dead away.
--->'''Joker:''' Honey? You'll never believe what happened to me today!
** The Joker goes to Vicki Vale's apartment and scares her out of her wits, including apparently killing Bruce Wayne. After the Joker leaves, Vicki Vale opens the box he left her. A hand holding a bunch of weeds pops out, and she collapses to the ground.
* ''Film/{{Home Alone 2}}''. Kate faints at the airport upon realizing that her entire family has somehow neglected to bring her son Kevin along on their trip for a ''second time''.
* ''Film/MenInBlack''. After the Bug gets into his new Edgar suit, Edgar's wife Beatrice tells him that "Your skin is hanging off your bones." The Bug pulls Edgar's face back into a horrible distorted mask and Beatrice faints dead away.
* ''Film/MeetJohnDoe''. At the climax of the movie, a distraught and guilt-ridden Ann pleads desperately to John [[spoiler: on the roof of City Hall not to kill himself]]. At the height of her emotions, she confesses her love for him, and in the next instant, sinks in his arms in a dead faint. As a result, as John finally decides [[spoiler: not to jump at the end of the film and Henry tells off a defeated Norton with a TakeThat]], Ann is thoroughly passed out throughout and misses all of this.
* Marianne nearly faints in ''Film/SenseAndSensibility'' when she sees that her disappeared beau, Willoughby, is with another woman at a ball. Her sister Elinor and Mrs. Jennings catch her and keep her walking.
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': A fangirl does this upon seeing Jason and Gwen kiss.
* Joe, from ''Film/TheDevilAndMissJones'', has an Emotional variation of this when he finds out that Thomas Higgins is actually John P. Merrick.
* In ''Film/TheFlintstonesInVivaRockVegas'', Wilma's mother faints in shock twice during [[spoiler: Fred and Wilma's wedding.]]
** Fred imagines Wilma fainting at the sight of his giant engagement ring earlier in the movie.
* ''Film/MysteryOfTheWaxMuseum'': When Charlotte is shown the truth behind the wax museum, she faints.
* In ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'', Ursula faints again and again, first from seeing George's jungle residence for the first time, then from the shock of Ape being a TalkingAnimal, and then a third and fourth time immediately after waking as the shock was still too great.
** In the sequel, the sight of [[ProductPlacement an elephant wearing New Balance]] causes Ursula once more to faint dead away.
* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' has Princess Vespa faint twice: once when she realizes that her reunion with her father was a sham and a trap, and once when she is about to be mutilated as part of an extortion attempt on her father.
* In ''Film/TheReturnOfSherlockHolmes'', Mrs. Hudson faints in shock when Holmes returns from FakingTheDead.
* In ''Film/TheClimax'', the soprano who is told that she is to replace ThePrimaDonna Jarmila Vadek faints out of sheer excitement. Leads to a funny moment when everyone else storms out of the office for various reasons, leaving her still passed out the floor.
* In ''Film/DeathBell'', one of the girls faints in shock/fear when a body drops out of the ceiling in the auditorium.
* ''Film/Legend1985''. When she first meets the terrifying villain Darkness, Lili faints and collapses to the ground. She wakes up a few seconds later and has a long conversation with him.
* In ''Film/RelativeFear'', Linda collapses after she finds [[spoiler:Margaret]]'s body.

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/TheMadKing'' by Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs, 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]]. Less for comedy than as one of the repeated reminders that Leopold is not an admirable manly man like the novel's hero.
* Having the narrator faint was a common way for Creator/HPLovecraft to finish his stories since it saved him having to explain how his very non-{{Badass Normal}}s could live to tell the tale.
* In ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', we get a nice GenderFlip with ''Jonathan Harker'' pulling one of these fairly early on. Just as equally an emotional faint, however, as he had just been overtly harassed by three beautiful vampire-ladies ''and'' [[HoYay apparently his own host.]]
* In ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', when Raoul first comes face to face with Erik in the Perros graveyard, he faints. Crosses over with an emotional faint, since Erik had already been trying to freak him out by playing the ghost and throwing skulls at him.
* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'':
** When the Dementors board the train in , 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 Patronum spell to ward them off.]]
* The revelation that Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant is a talking, sentient skeleton causes Stephanie to faint.
* ''Literature/TheWanderingInn'': When Jelaqua Ivirith, a Selphid, which are basically parasites that inhabit dead bodies, ''literally'' opens her stomach to show Erin her true from that is located in that region— Erin faints, when she sees Jelequa waving to her, inside of...well, Jelequa.
* ''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.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheSilverChair'': Jill collapses to the ground when Eustace falls off a cliff and hopes she'll faint, but the author comments it's not that easy.
* Doctor Watson falls down in a dead faint when Literature/SherlockHolmes suddenly appears in his study [[spoiler:after having been thought dead for three years]].
* Not as often as he invokes the Monster Faint, but Creator/HPLovecraft still makes his characters faint at the heights of their emotion from time to time. Georgina in "The Last Test", for instance, 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 was real, upon which she instantly faints once again and does not wake up until late into the afternoon.
* Fantine faints in ''[[Literature/{{LesMiserables}} Les Misérables]]'' upon realizing that Mayor Madeleine is a genuinely kind man who is willing to help her reconnect with her estranged daughter Cosette.
* In ''[[Literature/TheSorrowsOfYoungWerther The Sorrows of Young Werther]]'', Charlotte, upon hearing of Werther's suicide, sinks into a faint so deep that others begin to fear for her life.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Quiller}} The Quiller Memorandum]]'', 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. It's an Emotional Faint because he is under massive stress and he uses that to make his enemies believe he is weak.
* In ''[[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.
* Occurs to such an extent in ''Literature/ThePickwickPapers'', that Creator/CharlesDickens may well be parodying it.
* In the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'', Eragon faints when his mentor, Brom, is fatally stabbed. But then, he faints at the end of almost every chapter, as well.
* This happens to ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'s'' Bella ''a lot.''
* Dante does this or seems to come near it in ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'' to the point where many modern readers think of it as Girly Man Fainting. He only truly faints twice: once due to a sensory overload upon first entering Hell, and again in the circle of Lust, where he meets a couple who are the Romeo and Juliet of his time. The latter is largely from empathy, due to having been loved a woman from afar his whole life (combined with a possible fangirl episode . . . they ''were'' pretty famous).
* Many, many characters faint in ''Literature/DonQuixote'', 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.
* Tamaris in Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/AWitchShallBeBorn". Nearly being feed to a monster and finding yourself in the middle of a battle after months of ColdBloodedTorture and [[GoMadFromTheIsolation isolation]] do make a good excuse.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's short ''Literature/AndHeBuiltACrookedHouse'', Mrs. Bailey repeatedly faints throughout the adventure in the tesseract house.
** In the book ''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.
* In the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' 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.
* Parodied mercilessly by Jane Austen in ''Literature/LoveAndFreindship'' [sic], 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 worsened into deadly tuberculosis]].
* Cathy of ''Literature/TeamHuman'' 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 lovestricken distress and all.
* Bobbie Waterbury in ''Literature/TheRailwayChildren'' manages to [[spoiler:prevent a train from careening straight into a landslide via clever use of red petticoats, but has to stand on the tracks to do so]]. When [[spoiler:the train finally manages to stop -- just inches in front of her, as she's still standing on the tracks -- ]] she very understandably collapses in a dead faint. Creator/JennyAgutter's rendition of the scene in the 1970 FilmOfTheBook is iconic.
* In ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'', not even [[spoiler:''personally witnessing'' 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 [[spoiler:maid]] screams and runs out of [[spoiler:her mistress's]] cabin before flopping unconscious into the arms of a steward on the deck.
* ''Literature/JaneEyre'': Jane faints after she finds out that [[spoiler:Mr Rochester, who was going to marry her, already has a wife]].
** Much earlier on, 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.
** In another instance, the terrifying figure of a veiled strange woman holding a candle approaches Jane, who has been wakeful in her bed, 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.
* Emily, the protagonist of ''Literature/TheMysteriesOfUdolpho'', 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.
* Grace Marks in ''Literature/AliasGrace'' 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/PamelaOrVirtueRewarded 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.
* Christine's faint on stage during chapter 2 of ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' is either this or an exhaustion type faint, since it is her first big performance.
* Mary Jo Putney's ''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.
* In the stories of ''Literature/TheArabianNights'', this happens over and over and over and over and over again, almost always in moments of high emotion, swooning faints of love.
* Ishmael from ''Literature/DontCallMeIshmael'' faints during his first debate because he is so nervous. Everybody else sees it as a Girly Man Faint and thinks it's hilarious as Ishmael also [[ThanksForTheMammary accidentally gropes]] his LoveInterest Kelly right as he faints.
* Much like ''Literature/TheArabianNights'' above, ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland'' features a lot of dramatic emotional "swooning" - and [[RealMenWearPink that's from the men]]. The lady Aude, upon hearing that her brother Oliver and her fiance Roland are dead, [[UpToEleven immediately dies of grief on the spot]].
* In ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'', Wilbur is prone to this. First 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.]] Later, he faints from StageFright when he receives his medal at the county fair; this time [[YouDirtyRat Templeton]] revives him by biting his tail.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' 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.]]
* In ''Literature/LittleWomen'', Marmee faints when she receives the news that her husband has contracted pneumonia while serving as a chaplain in the Civil War.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/AllMyChildren'''s Maria Santos does this in shock and joy when her presumed dead husband Edmund walks into his own funeral.
* In the 1993 TV remake of the 1958 ''[[Film/AttackOfThe50FtWoman Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman]]'', Harry attempts to cause his wife Nancy to suffer a heart attack and die by deliberately insulting and angering her. Nancy only faints instead, but Harry believes himself to have succeeded in killing her, and drives away from the scene. Nancy later comes back for revenge, but only after spending most of the night lying sprawled on top of the house she collapsed onto, completely passed out.
* On ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Sheldon tends to faint when he can't process the stimulus his brain is receiving; for example, when his hero Steven Hawking points out an arithmetic error in a paper Sheldon wrote.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. When her werewolf boyfriend Oz is suspected of having killed someone, Willow goes to the mortuary at night to get samples from the victim. As Xander and Cordelia retch and express their disgust at what's been done to the body, Willow is completely focused on the task, but on finishing, faints in their arms.
* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'': An episode centers around Patty giving kisses to Quico and El Chavo and causing them to faint, and whenever it happens, they're "revived" [[HilarityEnsues with buckets of water.]] At the end of the episode, Don Ramón ends up getting one from Patty's aunt Gloria and faints too. Chavo then calls dibs on him, but instead of a bucket of water, he grabs one full of bricks...
* In the ''Series/EnemyAtTheDoor'' episode "The Polish Affaire", Lady Diana Prideux faints dead away on finding an escaped prisoner hiding in her garden shed. When she recovers, it turns out that he's not just any escaped prisoner, but a man she loved and lost before the war.
* ''Series/FawltyTowers''.
** In "[[Recap/FawltyTowersS2E1CommunicationProblems Communication Problems]]", Basil is robbed of his gambling winnings by Mrs Richards, then she's complaining it was "ten pounds short". When a man enters the hotel carrying a vase she bought the previous day and asks Basil if he knows her. He is so immensely frustrated that even the ''mention of her name'' makes him faint. (He does get straight back up though).
** At the end of "[[Recap/FawltyTowersS2E6BasilTheRat Basil the Rat]]", he also faints from the pressure.
* Spoofed in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' when Jon Snow (born of a noble family) tries to explain the concept of swooning to his wildling girlfriend Ygritte — needless to say she mocks the idea mercilessly, having come from a society where people have to be tough to survive.
** A couple of seasons earlier, this is his sister, Sansa Stark's reaction to [[spoiler: seeing their father, Lord Eddard, beheaded.]]
* ''Series/MagnificentCentury'': After learning that she can marry the man she loves, Hatice passes out.
* In one episode of ''Series/NightCourt'' Dan keels over in relief after learning that he's just been the victim of Mac's elaborate prank, and hasn't literally [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul]] to the devil.
* Olive does this in the fifth episode of ''Series/PushingDaisies'' when it seems a dead horse jockey's ghost is out to kill all the other jockeys from that race, which includes her. Justified-ish in that ''Pushing Daisies'' never pretended to be realistic medically or otherwise -[[spoiler:later the "dead" jockey shows up really tall, because he was paralyzed so the doctors cut off his dead horse's legs and put them on him.]]
* A recurring gag on ''Series/RaisingHope'' as much of the show's comedy is based on secret revelations. In particular Jimmy does this several times in the 2-part season 2 finale upon hearing ludicrously illogical news about his baby's mother.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' has featured this in a couple of episodes: Rimmer does it in "Psirens" after viewing a graphic demonstration of how and what the eponymous monsters eat, while in "Epideme" The Cat freezes up and keels over after seeing Kochanski apparently chop off her own arm. (Amusingly, in the latter case, he's just left lying on the floor, incredulous index finger still extended.)
* The 1991 ''Tarzán'' series has Jane fainting in Tarzan's arms from the relief of being saved from certain death.

* Done without the scream on multiple occasions by Mr. Humphries in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', typically as a silent collapse into the arms of his coworkers.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E7TheLongGame "The Long Game"]]: Adam Mitchell faints when he sees a view of the future Earth. The Doctor and Rose don't bother to look back and see what happened.
--->'''The Doctor:''' He's your ''boyfriend''.\\
'''Rose:''' Not anymore.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E11TheCrimsonHorror "The Crimson Horror"]] has a RunningGag involving minor character Mr. Thursday coming face-to-face with things like [[LizardFolk Madame Vastra]] or [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Strax]] for the first time and immediately, noiselessly fainting. And he does it [[RuleOfThree a third time]] when he sees the TARDIS dematerializing.
* This phenomenon popped up in several ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' movies, like ''Film/{{Eegah}}'', ''Film/ThePhantomPlanet'' and ''Film/TheBloodWatersOfDrZ,'' which contains probably the most egregious example of this trope, with the kidnapped heroine managing to remain unconscious while being roughly carried through a hot, noisy, fetid swamp for ''several miles.''
-->'''Crow:''' Apparently women are devoid of the "fight-or-flight" reflex.
* In ''Series/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' MiniSeries, Christine faints at the sight of Erik's unmasked face, much to his devastation (she'd promised to love him enough to overlook what he looked like, but to no avail).
* ''Series/TheXFiles''. Although Agent Scully is hardly the frail heroine, even she keels over when a ghost removes his hat to reveal a large shotgun hole through his head. Also played for laughs in "The Unnatural" when the cop protagonist in 1947 Roswell sees a Grey alien (who's been posing as a Negro baseball player) for the first time. The alien keeps trying to wake him up to explain things, but as soon as the cop does so he passes out again.
* Frank from ''Series/{{MASH}}'' had been known to do this. Also Radar, particularly when he was around anything related to childbirth.
* ''Series/NorthernResuce'': Taylor blacks out form the pressure while competing in a spelling bee. A little while later, a competitor spots a video of it online.
* Done by Janet Weiss [[AudienceParticipation (SLUT!)]] when she sees Frank N. Furter for the first time in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''.
* In an early episode of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Rodney learns that the city is in danger and responds by promptly keeling over. After a brief moment of panic, his teammates are only too happy to inform him that he pulled one of these. He does it again before the end of the episode, only this time he's being heroic, and it's actually an Exhaustion Faint.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E95HocusPocusAndFrisby Hocus Pocus And Frisby]]". When Frisby punches one of the aliens in the face, the alien's human head is revealed to be a mask covering his true alien head. When he sees this, Frisby suffers an Emotional Faint and collapses. He wakes up five minutes before the aliens are scheduled to leave.
* In ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "The Unnatural", Dales faints away upon seeing Exley's true alien form, and then faints again (and again, and again) when the alien revives him.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/CanCan'', hot-tempered but cowardly artist Boris is egged on by his friends to challenge the art critic Jussac to a duel after Jussac steals his girlfriend and writes a review trashing Boris's work. The moment the referee announces the beginning of the duel, he faints dead away. Theophile, the friend who had been most enthusiastic in egging him on, is informed that as Boris's second it is now his duty to pick up Boris's sword and fight in his place -- and he faints too.
* In ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', Tamino faints when chased by a giant snake in the opening scene.
* Thoroughly justified in Creator/GilbertAndSullivan's ''Theatre/TheYeomenOfTheGuard''. In the course of the first act, Elsie Maynard is A. Forced to marry a condemned criminal to buy medicine to save her mother. In one of the other plots, Fairfax was framed in order that his cousin can inherit his fortune, but, by the terms of the will, he can shift the inheritance to another branch of the family if he's married, so he arranges with his guards to sort out a marriage with anyone whatsoever, for cash. B. She witnesses the highly-charged leadup to his execution by beheading, and, C. She then finds out he's escaped, meaning she, as a poor woman in Tudor times, is now permanently a criminal's wife. And being a moral woman, love is now forbidden her, because loving anyone else would be adultery. It is at this point she faints.
** At the end of Act II, the jester Jack Point, who is in love with Elsie Maynard, faints because Fairfax is pardoned and is married to Elsie.
* In ''Zone'', Ciboulette faints during her interrogation when told that an American border patrol officer was killed, as she is afraid it was Tarzan who killed him.
* A mainstay of opera. To name just a handful of examples:
** Violetta in ''Theatre/LaTraviata'', when Alfredo publically insults her (possibly justified, since she’s sick with tuberculosis).
** Faninal in ''Theatre/DerRosenkavalier'', when he realizes Baron Och’s true character (again, possibly justified, since he’s mentioned early on to be in frail health).
** The title character in ''Rigoletto'', when he realizes his daughter has been kidnapped, and again in the end, after [[spoiler:she dies in his arms.]]
** Leonora in ''Il Trovatore,'' when Manrico rushes off to risk his life trying to save his mother.
** Santuzza and Mamma Lucia in ''Cavalleria Rusticana'', when Turridu’s death is announced.
** Donna Anna in ''Theatre/DonGiovanni'', when she finds her father’s corpse.
** Pamina in ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', as Monostatos is harassing her, paralleling her love interest Tamino’s earlier Monster Faint.
** Sieglinde in ''[[Theatre/DerRingDesNibelungen Die Wälkure]]'', first in guilt and fear over her {{Twincest}} with her brother Siegmund, and again after [[spoiler:Siegmund is killed.]]
** Isolde in ''Tristan & Isolde'', Charlotte in ''Werther'', and Des Grieux in ''Manon Lescaut'', after [[spoiler:their lovers die in their arms.]]
* ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''. At the conclusion of "The Music Of The Night" number, Christine becomes completely overwhelmed by everything the Phantom has put her through, including presenting her with a mannequin replica of her wearing a wedding dress and finally collapses.
* ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing'' sees Hero faint as she's being falsely accused of unfaithfulness and publicly denounced and humiliated at a wedding. She faints so deep that others at the scene believe her to have died.
* ''Theatre/{{Faust}}''. Gretchen attempts to seek solace and forgiveness, but when confronted with the severity of her sins, she eventually cannot bear it any longer and faints dead away.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In the ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' case "Turnabout Sisters," Phoenix faints once he sees Mia, who is dead and is the victim in the case. It's really Maya channeling Mia for the first time. Upon waking up and seeing her once more, he faints again. Lampshaded by Mia: "'GACK?!' Is that any way to treat your boss, Nick?"
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', when Albedo [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95mwIi8lVHQ intimidates the young Momo]].
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
** Miles Edgeworth loses consciousness a few times due to his extreme seismophobia. He developed a fear of earthquakes after a traumatic experience in his past that resulted in the murder of his father.
** Happens twice to [[spoiler: Ema Skye]], once as [[spoiler: she witnessed what she thought was a SerialKiller stabbing another man]], and then [[spoiler: two years later, when she realizes that she may have accidentally killed the aforementioned man.]]
** In the sixth game's final case, [[spoiler:Rayfa]] faints while trying to [[spoiler:perform the Divination Séance to show her father Inga's final moments]].
*** Another example from the same game is wheelchair-bound shut-in Armie Buff from Case 5, whose pyrophobia becomes a plot point during her testimony.

* Jennifer, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose'' keeps fainting at the slightest provocation during the early cutscenes; they actually tend to mark the borders between chapters. But when she finds her inner courage in the last chapter, she can watch far more traumatizing sights than all the previous ones put together and keep her consciousness.
* Fiona in ''VideoGame/HauntingGround'' [[spoiler:upon learning that her pursuer, Riccardo, and her father, Ugo, are clones of the game's main antagonist and that Riccardo killed her father.]]
* ''VideoGame/BorrowedTime'': Bruce Light, being a very fragile man, flops unconscious to the floor from fear due to questioning.
* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': King Eryk has to deal with TheChainsOfCommanding on a daily basis. There are a few moments in the game where he gets ''really'' bad news on top of this. Those moments consistently knock him out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/YourTurnToDie'', right before participating in the Main Game in chapter one part two, Sara comments that there is the sound of somebody fainting in a different room. Given the circumstances, this would likely be either [[spoiler:Joe or Kai, who have at this point learned that the cards they received, the Sacrifice and Sage respectively, are likely to result in their deaths.]]
* ''VisualNovel/MuvLuvUnlimited'': The first time Takeru truly realizes that there's a serious possibility of him dying in combat against the BETA, he then faints upon learning that the BETA are not in fact going to attack the base he's stationed at. He beats himself up over it, as he sees it as further proof of his weakness in comparison to the rest of his squad. However, none of the military cast holds it against him, with his Sergeant even acting uncharacteristically kind and supportive, saying that breakdowns like that are a very common reaction among recruits and no one blames him for it.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Mr. Cake from ''Blog/SliceOfLife'' does this periodically.
-->'''Mrs. Cake:''' You get used to it, dear.
* Happens quite frequently in ''Webcomic/MenageA3''--characters often faint due to sheer embarrassment, sheer pleasure, or for other reasons.
* In a side story in ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'', [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00587.html Arlen the biomancer]] suffers this when he discovers one field of his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauxite bauxite]]-purging plants is ''growing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire rubies and sapphires]]''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Sokka faints (without screaming) upon seeing the pregnant woman give birth en route to Ba Sing Se.
* Timmy's dad does this regularly on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''.
* Parodied on WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic when a Flower Sister does this faced with a bunny stampede (normal sized bunnies, mind you, who were rather harmless).
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', the museum curator does one of these in "Monkey See, Doggy Do".
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'': Shaggy and Scooby, frequently.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', a lady in the audience faints when Fiona reveals to Shrek that she turns into an ogre at sunset.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E17BlueShadowVirus "Blue Shadow Virus"]], Jar Jar Binks faints when the last virus bomb is defused, causing Ahsoka, Padmé and Rex to turn and stare.
* In TheStinger of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsLegendOfEverfree'', upon seeing [[spoiler:Pinkie Pie blow up the just-finished, brand-new dock]], the girls are frozen in shock, except for [[DramaQueen Rarity]] who's so shaken she faints.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'': Miles' {{Muggle|s}} roommate Ganke Lee faints when he looks up to find six AlternateUniverse versions of Spider-Man, one of them a TalkingAnimal, clinging to the ceiling of his dorm. Miles [[ComfortingComforter tucks him into bed]] before leaving.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Thumbelina|1994}}''. Mocked mercilessly by WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick: "And like all animated heroines she has a tendency towards fainting. ''Boom''! Unconscious!"
* In the animated ''WesternAnimation/CharlottesWeb'', Wilbur is even more prone to this than in the book. First he faints when Lurvey force-feeds him a sulphur-and-molasses tonic, then again when he first learns that the humans are planning to kill him for meat, and then again when he overhears them talking about it. Later he almost faints again at the mention of "crunchy bacon," but Charlotte stops it by saying "Wilbur, I forbid you to faint!"
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePony'': In "The Runaway Rainbow", Rainbow Dash faints when Rarity says (after skating all around Ponyville and splashing Rainbow Dash with mud) [[WasntThatFun that she wants to do it again]].
-->'''Rarity:''' [[WasntThatFun That was fun! Let's do it again!]] \\
'''Rainbow Dash:''' [[OhNoNotAgain Again?!]] (faints)
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
** Rarity faints twice during the episode "Bridle Gossip." First, when she hears that mysterious zebra Zecora's stripes are not a fashion choice, but something she was born with, and then again when the other ponies list the "horrors" of [[TheLostWoods The Everfree Forest]].
** Rarity also faints in "A Dog and Pony Show" when Sapphire Shores asks her to make five more dresses in addition to the one she just made.
** Applejack also ends up fainting in "Applebuck Season" after believing she's finished her apple-picking all by herself, only to be shown an acre that still needed to be picked. In the latter case, it's likely justified, as Applejack was suffering from severe sleep deprivation in addition to the shock, thus crossing over with the Exhaustion Faint.
* Played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' when Stan outs Terry as a homosexual to his homophobic father. Terry faints into his lover's arms in the most girly way possible (practically emulating Rarity, above), and Stan, drunk off his ass, calls him out on it.
-->'''Stan:''' That's not how a straight guy faints. This is how a straight guy faints! ''[{{faceplant}}s]''
%%* ''WesternAnimation/AKindOfMagic'' does this multiple times.
* Used big time in the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "Docu-Mentally". After discovering Dee Dee removing the tape from his, well, video tape, he falls to the ground and passes out this way in shock. The cockroaches then proceed to film themselves playing around with Oggy's body and then send it to television. The result? [[CircleOfShame Well, yeah...]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
** Played straight in by Marceline of all people. She got a little... overwhelmed by the discovery that [[spoiler:her old friend and father figure Simon had been freed from the ice-crown's curse.]]
** Much earlier in the series, Princess Bubblegum fainted with relief after her people were saved from a plague by [[ItMakesSenseInContext the Ice King's pained howls]]. After [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext trying to flip over a bed and shouting in]] GratuitousGerman first.
* ''WesternAnimation/LosTrotaMusicos'': In this adaptation of ''Literature/TheBremenTownMusicians'' the mayor's wife usually fainted whenever a situation became too much for her, complete with her falling into the arms of her husband.
* Invoked at the end of the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Not What He Seems", when [[spoiler:''the Author of the journals'' comes out of the portal in Stan's secret lab, on top of him being ''Stan's long-lost twin brother''.]]
-->'''Mabel:''' [[ThisIsThePartWhere Is this the part where]] one of us faints?\\
'''Soos:''' Oh, I am ''so'' on it, dude. ''[faints]''
* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "Revenge of the Lutefisk," Bobby accidentally starts a fire which destroys the community church. He spends an entire day consumed with shame and remorse, and the next day, upon hearing an official announcement that the police are on the trail of the "arsonist," the sheer terror on top of it all drives him into a faint.
* ''WesternAnimation/NedsNewt'': Ned does this when he finds out that the parents of a baby that he thinks will play at a New Year's pageant actually live in another town other than Friendly Falls.
* Stan does this in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "The Cissy" when his father Randy tell him that he is Music/{{Lorde}} and proves to him that he's ''not'' making it up.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Krusty Dogs", Mr. Krabs takes away Krabby Patties from the Krusty Krab menu and puts hot dogs in their place. [=SpongeBob=]'s reaction is to faint from shock, just as two paramedics immediately arrive and revive him. [=SpongeBob=] however faints again upon seeing Mr. Krabs take out the kitchen oven.
* WesternAnimation/HorridHenry, out of the fear of [[AfraidOfNeedles injections]], faints from his brother Perfect Peter's explanation about the aforementioned injections.
* ''WesternAnimation/PawPatrol'': In "Pups Save a Mer-Pup", Chase in the beginning of the episode [[ArbitrarySkepticism insisted that mer-pups aren't real]]. When he saw Skye actually turning into one, he does this.
* This happens a lot in ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'':
** Carrot faints into Celery's arms when Jet mentions him in his song in "My Fair Jet"
** Moonbeam faints after Sunspot flirtatiously winks at her in "Back to Bortron 7"
** Jet faints after Zerk informs him that his parents will be assigned to another planet after their presentation in "Back to Bortron 7"
** Mitchell faints at the ''very sight'' of [[LoveInterest Mindy]] in "What Goes Up...", after she sneaked up on him a second time.
* In the DVD movie ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheGoblinKing'', Velma faints after seeing the supernatural maelstrom the Great Krudsky had created.

[[/folder]]

* ''Animation.{{Lamput}}'': Slim Doc faints upon seeing a muscular Fat Doc in "Diet Doc".
* Gamelords Ltd. supplement ''Thieves' Guild 8'', adventure "Rescue from the Trolls' Hole". When the PlayerCharacters show up to rescue the girl Constance from the trolls, she will faint from the relief of seeing them.
* In nearly every version of ''Franchise.TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', April O'Neil does this on her first sight of the turtles, whereupon they pick her up and take her home. In a possible RunningGag, Michelangelo asks "Can we keep her?" in both the first movie and the second series just after she faints.
** In the first movie, April did not faint upon seeing the Turtles for the first time -- her unconsciousness was due to being attacked by the Foot Clan before they got their ever-loving asses kicked by Raph. When she woke up in the sewer den, she freaked out instead, which ended up freaking the Turtles out as well.
** Splinter elicited a fainting reaction from Keno and Kenshin in the second and third movies, the latter being lampshaded.
--->'''Donatello:''' You sure have a strange effect on people, don't you, Master?\\
'''Splinter:''' Hmmmm... out cold.
* The ''[[WebOriginal/ThomasSanders Sanders Sides]]'' episode "Crofters - The MUSICAL!" has Logic of all people doing this when he sees that there's a new flavor of Crofters jam named after him.
* ''WebVideo.TheNostalgiaCritic'': The highly girly Nostalgia Critic does this in his review of ''Film/JudgeDredd''. He even does the hand to the forehead thing.
* Simmons in ''Machinima.RedVsBlue'', upon seeing a teammate's head blow up. He fervently denies this, but a later flashback confirms it.
-->'''Simmons:''' Eek! I'm gonna faint!

Some characters are [[NervesOfSteel naturally calm]] in high-stress situations. Others keep a StiffUpperLip. And some... faint dead away!

Some characters are [[NervesOfSteel naturally calm]] in the face of High-pressure events. Others keep a StiffUpperLip. And some... faint dead away!

This is TruthInTelevision to an extent - There is a reason that doctors [[BreakingTheNewsGently tell you to sit down]] when they need to discuss bad news. Basically, the body's Fight-or-Flight response can overreact and momentarily reduce blood-flow to the brain. [[note]]See the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncope_(medicine)#Neurally_mediated_syncope Other Wiki]] for more details[[/note]]

Some characters are naturally calm in the face of High-pressure events. Others keep a StiffUpperLip. And some... faint dead away!

This is TruthInTelevision to an extent - There is a reason that doctors [[BreakingTheNewsGently tell you to sit down]] when they need to discuss bad news. Basically, the body's Fight-or-Flight response can overreact and momentarily reduce blood-flow to the brain. [[note]]See the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncope_(medicine)#Neurally_mediated_syncope Other Wiki]] for more details[[/note]] In RealLife, this is fairly rare. Certain regions of fictionland, however, take it as a daily matter of course:

The DramaQueen might fake this to get attention. The GuileHeroine may fake it to create a distraction, or to appear [[PlayingPossum weak and helpless]]

** In ''Fanfic/MallRats'', Lincoln worries he will faint when his crush holds his hand. He doesn't, though.

Some characters are naturally calm in the face of horrifying events. Others keep a StiffUpperLip. And some... faint dead away!

Romance period novels leaned into this, as part of their WomenAreDelicate assumptions, to the extent that Creator/JaneAustin lampooned and parodied the concept to the point of ridicule in her novella Literature/LoveAndFreindship, which she wrote at age 15!

* ''Manga/FromEroicaWithLove'': Caesar Gabriel does this [[OnceAnEpisode twice a chapter]]. (Yes, he was only around for two chapters, but still.)
* In ''Anime/PleaseTwins'', Karen fainting at ''any'' surprise or stress is a running gag, though like many such things, it tapers off as the series goes on. Becomes [[FunnyAneurysmMoment a bit less amusing]] when you consider the parent series, ''Anime/PleaseTeacher,'' which had a condition called Standstill, in which a person can spend ''years'' in a coma-like condition (without aging) after too much extreme emotion. One of these days, Karen might not wake up for a ''long'' time...

* Albert of ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}'' faints from when he accidentally drank water that was laced with poison.

* Barnaby in Anime/TigerAndBunny faints in Episode 19. With good reason, as because he's been plagued by recurring nightmares about his parents' death (which he thought he'd begun to put behind him after [[spoiler:seemingly finding their killer]]), and as a result has barely eaten or slept recently. When trying to discuss his fears with Kotetsu, Barnaby breaks down in tears and then passes out.
* A RunningGag in ''Anime/OnePieceFilmStrongWorld'' is Xiao's tendency to faint whenever she's surprised. Because of how easy she is to surprise, she faints all the time.
** Chapter 742 of the series proper has an example which is both serious (due to being a plot point) and hilarious: [[spoiler:Usopp is fed the fake grape that was intended to knock Sugar out. He screams so loudly and makes such a horrifying expression that it causes Sugar to scream her lungs out in return, and she faints as a result]].
* Tubby does this as the end of Episode 20 of the ''Anime/LittleLulu'' anime, in response to his mother telling him that he'll be spending extra time on his violin lessons.
* ''Anime/{{KirbyRightBackAtYa}}'s'' King Dedede has fainted in the episode "Cartoon Buffoon" not once, but ''twice''.

** This is a common reaction to abnormal things in [[Fanfic/Swing123AndGarfieldodiesCalvinverse the Calvinverse]], really.

** Inko Midoriya passes out after learning that her son Izuku is the leader of a team with three other gorgeous women his age because she's terrified of becoming a grandmother too soon. When she finally meets them in person, she passes out again when Nora's vague wording brings Inko to the conclusion that Izuku is in a polygamist relationship with every member of Team MNVW.

* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. During the meeting with the Wizard, each member of Dorothy's group is called forward to face him. When it's the Cowardly Lion's turn, he faints dead away (Girly Man Faint, but without the scream).
* Guy's girly-faint upon seeing the evil reptilian aliens for the first time in ''Film/GalaxyQuest''. (See also Emotional Faint.)

* In ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', while we don't actually see Elizabeth faint when the Monster kidnaps her, he later appears carrying her unconscious body in classic movie-poster style, which leads into their {{Black Comedy Rape}} scene.

* In ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'', Sarah faints when she realizes Alan is standing on her doorstep. (And like the Holmes example below, it's because she had thought he was gone forever).

* Parodied mercilessly by Jane Austen in ''Literature/LoveAndFreindship'' [sic], from which the opening quote is taken. 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 worsened into deadly tuberculosis]].

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/{{Lamput}}'': Slim Doc faints upon seeing a muscular Fat Doc in "Diet Doc".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Simmons in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', upon seeing a teammate's head blow up. He fervently denies this, but a later flashback confirms it.
-->'''Simmons:''' Eek! I'm gonna faint!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~````






[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* Done by Janet Weiss [[AudienceParticipation (SLUT!)]] when she sees Frank N. Furter for the first time in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''.
* In 1995's ''Film/{{Casper}}'', both sassy teenager Kat and her father, James Harvey, faint (the former from meeting the ghostly hero for the first time, and the latter when Casper's trouble making uncles pull a surprise NightmareFace on the Dr.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', a lady in the audience faints when Fiona reveals to Shrek that she turns into an ogre at sunset.
* In ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', while we don't actually see Elizabeth faint when the Monster kidnaps her, he later appears carrying her unconscious body in classic movie-poster style, which leads into their {{Black Comedy Rape}} scene.
* ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina''. Gracie Law is kidnapped by one of Lo Pan's monsters. When she faces it head on, she screams in terror at its horrible visage and faints. The monster puts her over its shoulder and carries her away.
* In ''Film/Frankenstein1970'', Judy faints when she opens the door of her bedroom (expecting to see Mike) and is instead confronted by the monster. [[spoiler:It is possible that she actually dies of fright at this point, as in the next scene she is lying dead in Victor's lab with no indication of how she died.]]
* A classic example in ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast1946'': Belle faints upon seeing the Beast for the first time, and he tenderly carries her through the castle to a bed, her peasant garb magically changing to a [[GorgeousPeriodDress princess-worthy gown]] along the way.
* In nearly every version of ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', April O'Neil does this on her first sight of the turtles, whereupon they pick her up and take her home. In a possible RunningGag, Michelangelo asks "Can we keep her?" in both the first movie and the second series just after she faints.

* In ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', upon seeing Sonic for the first time, Maddie's sister Rachel barely has enough time to ask her young daughter to catch her before passing out.
* In ''Film/DickTracyDetective'', Tess faints when she looks up and sees the Splitface looming over her; his [[TwoFaced deformed visage]] leering at her and a huge knife clutched in his hand.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Having the narrator faint was a common way for Creator/HPLovecraft to finish his stories since it saved him having to explain how his very non-{{Badass Normal}}s could live to tell the tale.
* In ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', we get a nice GenderFlip with ''Jonathan Harker'' pulling one of these fairly early on. Just as equally an emotional faint, however, as he had just been overtly harassed by three beautiful vampire-ladies ''and'' [[HoYay apparently his own host.]]
* In ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', when Raoul first comes face to face with Erik in the Perros graveyard, he faints. Crosses over with an emotional faint, since Erik had already been trying to freak him out by playing the ghost and throwing skulls at him.
* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'':
** When the Dementors board the train in , Harry faints when they search his compartment, due to him reliving the death of his mother (he even hears her screaming). When Neville mistakenly reveals this to the Slytherns, Malfoy and his bunch try to pass it as a Frightened Faint.
** 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 Patronum spell to ward them off.]]
* The revelation that Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant is a talking, sentient skeleton causes Stephanie to faint.
* ''Literature/TheWanderingInn'': When Jelaqua Ivirith, a Selphid, which are basically parasites that inhabit dead bodies, ''literally'' opens her stomach to show Erin her true from that is located in that region— Erin faints, when she sees Jelequa waving to her, inside of...well, Jelequa.
* ''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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* This phenomenon popped up in several ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' movies, like ''Film/{{Eegah}}'', ''Film/ThePhantomPlanet'' and ''Film/TheBloodWatersOfDrZ,'' which contains probably the most egregious example of this trope, with the kidnapped heroine managing to remain unconscious while being roughly carried through a hot, noisy, fetid swamp for ''several miles.''
-->'''Crow:''' Apparently women are devoid of the "fight-or-flight" reflex.
* In ''Series/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' MiniSeries, Christine faints at the sight of Erik's unmasked face, much to his devastation (she'd promised to love him enough to overlook what he looked like, but to no avail).
* ''Series/TheXFiles''. Although Agent Scully is hardly the frail heroine, even she keels over when a ghost removes his hat to reveal a large shotgun hole through his head. Also played for laughs in "The Unnatural" when the cop protagonist in 1947 Roswell sees a Grey alien (who's been posing as a Negro baseball player) for the first time. The alien keeps trying to wake him up to explain things, but as soon as the cop does so he passes out again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', Tamino faints when chased by a giant snake in the opening scene.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]

[[/folder]]