Line #89 Main/HeroesActVillainsHinder


1	When the heart of a story is the hero's strong objective, the story usually isn't a Heroic Fantasy. It's comedy, romance, Slice Of Life, voyages, Rags To Riches... Villains and antagonists that exist are hindrances that challenge the hero to rethink themselves or overcome a personal weakness. If it’s an Action Adventure, then the enemies are [[PlotIrrelevantVillain Plot Irrelevant Villains]] who coincidentally meet and antagonise the main character without having anything to do with the cause of the journey itself.
2	Contrast VillainsActHeroesReact.
3	----
4	!!Examples:
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6	[[foldercontrol]]
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8	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
9	* Most {{Shoujo}} comics, being a mix of SliceOfLife and romance are about the heroine finding love while becoming a model/mangaka/singer/circus clown and there are a shitload of mean students/coworkers, {{Alpha Bitch}}es, {{Jerk Jock}}s, and rivals keeping her from doing it. Really, you start [[ParanoiaFuel thinking everyone's out to get you]] reading these stories.
10	* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Lelouch wants to destroy Britannia and liberate the Japanese, and Britannia fights against him.
11	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
12	** While Dio is very much active in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'', his role in the plot of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'' is mostly passive; he gets the heroes involved months after obtaining his Stand; The World, which also caused Jotaro's mother Holly to fall ill. After Jotaro and the others set off towards Egypt, Dio sends his minions in their path while waiting in his manor.
13	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': In the second half of the part, Giorno and his gang try to find the Boss' identity in order to take control of his empire. Naturally, he sends agents to try and stop them.
14	** The BigBad of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'' has this ''enforced'' on him by his stand power. His Stand, Wonder of U, attacks anyone who pursues him with increasing calamities until they stop trying or die, but it doesn't account for his own actions. If he ever acts first, his opponents will be free to retaliate because it isn't really 'pursuit' if he comes to you first, and acting in self-defense isn't pursuit either.
15	* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'': The first season has Tekkadan escorting Kudelia Aina Bernstein to Earth so she can rally support for Martian independence, something which leads to [[ArmiesAreEvil Gjallarhorn]] trying to stop them.
16	* ''Manga/OnePiece'' practices both this trope and VillainsActHeroesReact. The story revolves around the Straw Hat Pirates' adventure across the seas, with their ultimate goal being to find the eponymous One Piece treasure. On their way, they stumble onto all sorts of villains with their own objectives. In some arcs, like Alabasta, the villains are trying to enact some evil scheme that the heroes throw a wrench in. In other arcs, like Dressrosa, the heroes are the ones actively disrupting things while the villains are trying to keep themselves in power. The wider context of the story, however, very much plays into Heroes Act, Villains Hinder, as the Straw Hats' actions indirectly cause the setting's entire power structure to get thrown out of whack while the World Government tries desperately to keep them in check.
17	[[/folder]]
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19	[[folder:Comic Books]]
20	* Used at times in ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'': the VillainProtagonist usually has the initiative, but from time to time it's [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist inspector Ginko]] to come up with a plan to lure Diabolik into an ambush or otherwise foil him or other criminals. Especially notable is the first time this happens, the aptly titled story "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ginko Attacks!]]", in which Ginko's plan is so sudden and unexpected Diabolik is on the run the entire time and can only watch as Ginko raids his main hideout and discovers a ''map to all his other hideouts'' (Diabolik managed to escape and rebuild, but he could never replace the elaborate hideouts taken from Walter Dorian's organization that he lost that day).
21	* ''Comicbook/SinCity'': In Hartigan and Marv's stories, the main characters respond to crimes that happen off-screen to people they have little connection to. Because they decide to act, this leads them to make more decisions and the plot follows them. Dwight is an even greater example. He starts off reacting to Jackie Boy being the plot driver but he takes over the plot when he decides to chase Jackie Boy into Old Town and from there, his actions led to trouble from different directions. The main villain of that particular story doesn't have a part in the plot until the mid-way point.
22	* There was a ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' story arc called ''ComicBook/PanicInTheSky'' which was written specifically to avert VillainsActHeroesReact. Superman and a team of heroes purposefully go after a villain instead of waiting around for the bad guy to act first.
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25	[[folder:Fan Works]]
26	* In ''Fanfic/TheMythOfLinkAndZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', an adaptation of ''Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', this happens in two different ways.
27	** Counting the story arching from 100 years before the Calamity, the heroes were the ones who took the initiative to try and combat Calamity Ganon, using their ancestors' powerful technology to get the job done. Unfortunately, Calamity Ganon was ''very good'' at hindering them.
28	** In the present day, though the entire story is a [[VillainsActHeroesReact reaction]] to Calamity Ganon's victory 100 years prior, it still centers more on Link journeying around to gather the resources to fight Calamity Ganon, gathering the help of the various races across Hyrule, and the villainous Yiga Clan's attempts to stop them.
29	[[/folder]]
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31	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
32	* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' would essentially have no central conflict if not for the Beast's [[DisproportionateRetribution overreaction]] to EVERYTHING- most importantly, throwing Maurice into a dungeon just because the poor guy sheltered from a blizzard in the Beast's castle. Although he is something of antagonist at the start of the movie, from Belle's perspective if nothing else so it's a zigzag.
33	* At the start of ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', superheroism is outlawed and those with superpowers are forced to hide them. So the Parr family and Frozone team up with an eccentric billionaire to restore the supers' public image and make superheroism legal again. The villain, the Screenslaver, appears to be some kind of visionary as well, and makes vague monologues about modern society, [[spoiler:but this is ultimately just a distraction. Her real goal is merely to entrench the current status quo, and turn the general public further against supers.]]
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36	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
37	* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': Furiosa liberating Immortan Joe's harem girls sets off [[TheChase the events of the film]].
38	* The plot of ''Film/HappyGilmore'' is the titular character entering a golf tournament to earn the money to pay his grandmother’s enormous tax debt so she won’t lose her house. The sadistic orderly at the nursing home exists so Grandma Gilmore has a reason to want Happy to win the tournament, while Shooter [=McGavin=] is one of Happy’s many tournament rivals.
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41	[[folder:Folklore]]
42	* Fairy tales where the child has a goal at the beginning, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, Aladdin, etc.
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45	[[folder:Literature]]
46	* ''Literature/TheOdyssey'': Odysseus wants to get home. Every monster and god on the Great Sea is hindering him.
47	* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'': Dorothy wants to get home. The Wicked Witch stalking her for her shoes is hindering her.
48	* ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'': Alice [[RuleOfThree wants to get home]]. The sheer craziness of the world she's in is hindering her.
49	* Most [[RomanticComedy Romantic]] and Tragic Comedies are boy and girl wants each other and their jobs, jealous rivals and social statuses are keeping them apart.
50	* In the ''Literature/FirestarSeries'', the protagonist is an industrialist who, since she was a teenage girl, has been throwing everything into a space program so that humanity can incinerate any threatening asteroids. Her antagonists are surprisingly sympathetic Luddites, competing business interests, and people who have a grudge against her because of all the control issues she's gotten from decades believing the fate of humanity rests on her shoulders.
51	* In ''Literature/TowerAndTheHive - Pegasus in Space'', the main plotline is the development of Peter Reidinger's abilities and the science behind Talent, culminating in the creation of FT&T and humanity's march to the stars. The villains are various people who the Talented have cheesed off in previous books; the only villain whose goals aren't specifically related to destroying Peter is Ludmilla Barchenka.
52	* ''Literature/TheirsNotToReasonWhy'' is a rare Action/Adventure example. Technically, Ia ''is'' reacting, but the villains she's reacting to won't show up for centuries after her death (she's a precognitive). In practice, she sets out to rearrange the galaxy so that the peoples of it will be ready when the apocalyptic threat arrives, and her plans for this drive the entire plot.
53	* This trope is a source of [[RageAgainstTheHeavens unending frustration]] for ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'''s [[PragmaticVillain Black Knight]] because he is stuck in a reactive position. All he can do is stomp out potential heroes soon as his network spots them. [[spoiler:Also the reason he wants to "edit" the way [[MeaningfulName Names]] work, especially since [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks Angels and Demons]] [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity can only be Order or Chaos respectively]], leaving no room for grayer tones.]]
54	* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' may be one of the most famous subversions, as Frodo sets out to destroy the One Ring and is hindered by Sauron's forces. More specifically, it is a pre-emptive attempt to weaken Sauron before he invades good guy territory (again), so it is still [[VillainsActHeroesReact kind-of reaction to a villain's plot]].
55	* Subverted in ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'': The Light Others are fond of social experiments attempting to cure the human condition. Fascism and communism are both explicitly mentioned to be Light social engineering projects GoneHorriblyWrong. However, the Dark doesn't see the need for hindering (much), banking on human nature to screw up any Light interference for them. So far, it seems to have worked for them.
56	[[/folder]]
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58	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
59	* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'': Number Six wants to escape The Village. The new Number Two wants to keep him there.
60	* ''Series/BreakingBad'' is defined by the attempts of protagonist Walter White to make meth and build a fortune for his family, while the antagonists all threaten that goal. During periods where Walter has (at least temporarily) neutralized all of his antagonists, the show will skip through weeks or months at a time in a single montage as Walter simply goes about his drug manufacturing unhindered. When Walt himself becomes the BigBad in the back half of Season 5, the story then shifts to the struggle of Hank trying to bring him to justice while Walt hinders his progress.
61	* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
62	** ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' has little in the way of a real antagonist of his own, but rather each of his story arcs is about wandering into someone else's story and becoming an OutsideContextProblem that the villains of that story have to react to.
63	** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' is an exceptionally serialized narrative that brings the Beat Riders into more and more of a proactive role as it progresses and they seek to uncover the mysteries of the Helheim Forest, hindered in their explorations by a myriad of other forces seeking to profit off the crisis.
64	** ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'' is proactive for the first third of his show, as he tries to find the fifteen Heroic Eyecons he needs to retrieve within 99 days so he can wish himself back to life, which happen to also draw him into conflict with scouts from the Gamma empire. Once he actually has them, this premise takes a backseat to Ghost and his friends reacting to the schemes of the Gamma's main invasion force, comprising the bulk of the rest of the series.
65	** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' takes the opposite route of Ghost, beginning with the doctors at CR reacting to the Bugster virus outbreak and eventually leading to them attempting to follow the necessary steps to win and shut down the DeadlyGame ''Kamen Rider Chronicle'', with the game's runner doing everything in his power to stop them.
66	** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' has a very proactive pair of protagonists, with the first arc being about Sento and Ryuga searching for answers as to mysteries of the setting and the villains trying to stop them, to the point where the MonsterOfTheWeek formula typical to the ''Kamen Rider'' franchise gets almost immediately sidelined.
67	** ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' zigzags, as most of the cast are time travelers proactively trying to stop the title character from becoming the EvilOverlord of their future, but doing so primarily by reacting to the monster attacks meant to spur him along this path.
68	* ''Series/LazyTown'': Stephanie and Sportacus want the residents of [=LazyTown=] to be proactive and healthy. Robbie creates schemes to hinder them.
69	* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'':
70	** Most episodes of ''Series/GoGoSentaiBoukenger'' invert the [[VillainsActHeroesReact franchise norm]] by beginning with the heroes seeking out a powerful artifact so they can lock it up safely, and the villains trying to stop them so they can claim the artifact for themselves.
71	** ''Series/UchuuSentaiKyuranger'' is another one where this applies, as it takes place in a BadFuture where the villains have already ruled the universe for generations. Any given episode focuses on the heroes planning to reclaim an important piece of territory or seek out a vital artifact to overthrowing the Jark Matter empire, only to be hindered by whatever local commander happens to be in that area to serve as the MonsterOfTheWeek.
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74	[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
75	* This is pretty common in professional wrestling. A wrestler wants to form a team (Wrestling/SamoaJoe with Wrestling/JayLethal) or pursue a title? (Jay Briscoe and the Wrestling/RingOfHonor World Championship belt) Another will act to sabotage, especially if they are going for a title the {{heel}} has, wants to have, wants to keep around the waists of their friend or doesn't like anyone of said proposed team(thus Wrestling/LowKi and [[Wrestling/NelsonErazo Homicide]] try to end Lethal's career and Wrestling/{{Rh\|yno}}ino gives Briscoe his first injury to protect Wrestling/KevinSteen). The {{face}}s are throwing a party?(Wrestling/DaffneyUnger for Nikki Roxx's birthday) [[RevengeSVP Someone uninvited]](or [[MisplacedRetribution only thinks they were uninvited]] in the case of Wrestling/MercedesMartinez) is likely to ruin it. Someone is receiving an award?(Wrestling/KurtAngle into the Wrestling/ImpactWrestling Hall Of Fame) They must be put in their place(thus the [[Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels Extraordinary]] [[Wrestling/FrankieKazarian Gentlemen]] [[Wrestling/BobbyRoode Organization]] forms to protest). Someone is giving out [[CheapHeat props to the fans]]([[Wrestling/NickDinsmore Eugene]] has a t shirt gun)? Don't be surprised if that is interrupted either(because Armando Alejadro Estrada and his [[Wrestling/{{Umaga}} Samoan Bulldozer]] apparently hate fun). The {{reasonable authority figure}} is trying to enact something new in the name of entertainment, safety and or fairness(The Tennessee state commissioner banning the pile driver)? Expect them to be fought every step of the way(Paul Orndorff is piledriving anyone Wrestling/{{SMW}} puts him in the ring with, then Wrestling/AlSnow decides it will be a good way to end [[Wrestling/TheRockNRollExpress the career]] of Ricky Morton).
76	* A rather [[MemeticMutation infamous example]] came from Full Impact Pro, when Wrestling/CMPunk stomped on the head of [[Wrestling/NelsonErazo Homicide]] while Homicide was watching a strip tease
77	-->"[[SlutShaming You are a whoooore!]]"
78	* Another CM Punk example came from the Second City Saints vs Prophecy feud when BJ Whitmer interrupted Punk and Wrestling/ColtCabana's attempted execution of Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels. Although given the "[[ALighterShadeOfBlack heroes]]" had gone to such extremes in their vigilante justice and Daniels, while accomplice to Whitmer, wasn't actually guilty of the crime he was being punished for, this wasn't quite so bad.
79	* EVOLVE had a case where the initial "hero" Mercedes Martinez did not even ''need'' to react when Brandi Lauren tried to undo her efforts to bring women into the company. The wrestlers, Shotzi Blackheart in particular, were able to handle themselves, making this look like Villains Act Heroes React if you were unfamiliar with the promotion's history.
80	[[/folder]]
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82	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
83	* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' gives us the Ebon Dragon, a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Yozi]] who often acts as one of the principal antagonists of the setting. As he represents the cosmic principles of betrayal, villainy, and spite, it's very, ''very'' hard for him to act proactively. In fact, most of his powers rely around crushing or spiting others instead of pursuing his own direct goals, and the main reason he created [[BigGood the Unconquered Sun]] was because that way, he could actually ''do something''.
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86	[[folder:Video Games]]
87	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Ann's main objective is finding her missing brother. Whether it's the [[TheMafia Factio Pugni]] trying to stop her from re-obtaining a stolen ROM or [[NGOSuperpower The Consortium]] getting in her way, Ann will [[OneWomanArmy not stop]] at rescuing Ryan.
88	* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' is about a male high school student who joins a literature club with four other girls, leading him to attempt to romance one of them. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, the club president, Monika, intends to bend the world around her so that the player themselves has no choice but to pursue her.]]
89	* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': The Grey Wardens (and their newest member, [[PlayerCharacter you]]) need to stop the latest [[WorldWreckingWave Blight]] from destroying Ferelden, but [[BigBad Teyrn Loghain]] (who doesn't believe in Grey Wardens or the Blight), does everything in his power to try to stop you. In this case, the heroes are ''reacting'' to the Blight but a separate, different villain is hindering them.
90	* ''VideoGame/DuckTales'' has Scrooge seek out five Lost Treasures to further solidify his status as the Richest Duck in the World, fighting enemies along the way.
91	* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'': Chapters 1 to 10 focus on Lyn's quest to travel from her homeland in Sacae to Lycia to meet her bedridden grandfather Lord Hausen at Caelin, with help from the two cavaliers he sent as well as other mercenaries Lyn's party meets along the way. However, her [[EvilUncle grand uncle]] Lundgren sees her existance as an obstacle to his inheritance of Caelin's throne, and responded by sending assassins and soldiers after her, while force-feeding his brother poison to hasten his claim to rule over Caelin.
92	* ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'': Sean and Daniel's main goal is to make it to Puerto Lobos so they can escape punishment for a crime they didn't commit. The story does not have an arching villain, but the brothers have to deal with several unsavory figures, such as a racist convenience store owner, the leader of a marijuana planting operation, and the insane leader of a cult-like church.
93	* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': You play as a child who fell underground, and wants to return home. Thing is, everyone and everything underground wants you to stay, or wants you dead.
94	[[/folder]]
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96	[[folder:Western Animation]]
97	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hurricanes}}'': In "Around the World in 90 Minutes", the protagonists organize a series of soccer matches to be played at an aircraft carrier. The villains seize the carrier and stop the matches out of spite.
98	* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In Season 3, the plot is driven more by the heroes acting to save the Isles, which has been [[spoiler:taken over by The Collector. Belos however, isn't going to let that happen, determined to deny Luz her victory]].
99	[[/folder]]
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101	%%[[folder:Other]]
102	%% No generic examples.
103	%%
104	%%* The protagonist of an "escape plot" gets their own ball rolling by trying to escape their personal prison.
105	%%* RagsToRiches which specifically invoke SelfMadeMan.
106	%%** ''Film/ThePursuitOfHappyness''
107	%%* War movies and VideoGames in which the heroes are on the offense. The {{mooks}}' goal is just to wait for you to come to them, and then kill you.
108	%%** ''Film/TheLongestDay'', ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}''
109	%%[[/folder]]

Context Main / HeroesActVillainsHinder