History BlessedWithSuck / Literature

* ''Literature/TheLastOfTheJust'' follows the thousand-year history of a family in which one man of every generation is ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane or maybe isn't]]) a "[[TzadikimNistarum Just Man]]" ordained by God to relieve the world's suffering. Not even the Just Men themselves are entirely clear on what this means, but it's apparently necessary that in order to make other people suffer less ''they'' need to suffer more in equal proportion.

* ''The Last of the Just'' follows the thousand-year history of a family in which one man of every generation is ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane or maybe isn't]]) a "Just Man" ordained by God to relieve the world's suffering. Not even the Just Men themselves are entirely clear on what this means, but it's apparently necessary that in order to make other people suffer less ''they'' need to suffer more in equal proportion.

** Frank Zhang could darn well be the TropeCodifier. His life force is tied to a stick, and if it burns down completely, he dies. However, the fire from the stick has been shown to be able to free Death himself; who knows what other awesome stuff it could do. His Animorphism powers don't count, being just plain awesome without side affects.

-->-- '''[[Literature/NightLords Soul Hunter]]'''

* In the book ''Superpowers'' five college kids gain superpowers and form a short-lived superhero team, but this isn't without its drawbacks. The one with super-strength [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength never quite learns to adapt]], the one with telepathy takes a long, long time learning to shut out the thoughts of everyone in the city around him, and the one with super-speed finds out he's ''aging'' super-fast now.
* ''Literature/SzamankaOdUmarlakow'': Being the JobTitle seems nice at first -- you help (dead) people, you have some nice clairvoyance skills and ghosts can be helpful -- but you have to lead ''all'' the dead people you're supposed to into the underworld, and if somebody's killed by BlackMagic, they will bother you all the time and you won't be able to get rid of them.

* Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin's ''Literature/ChangingPlanes'':

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'': Winning the Golden Ticket is effectively this. You get to be one of only five families that get to see and explore Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory, a huge lifetime supply of chocolate, and a shot at a mysterious superprize, but ''one'' small misstep and you are in for a '''very''' unpleasant experience, possibly with lasting damage (although behaving yourself and not ticking off Mr. Wonka and the Oompa-Loompas does increase the surviving-unscathed factor.)

* Doli of Creator/LloydAlexander's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' comes from a family with the power of invisibility and is infuriated by the fact that he cannot do it. When he finally is granted the power by Prince Gwydion, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor he is called to use it so often by his companions that he becomes sick of it.]] But then again, he complains about everything.

* In P.C. Hodgell's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'' series, the powers of the magically gifted (or cursed) Kencyr, the Shanir, are just as likely to suck as to be beneficial, or may do both at once. Being followed around by a swarm of mind-linked insects, for instance, or being only able to consume blood, milk and honey, or being afflicted with magical clumsiness that can be passed to others.
* Stephen R. Donaldson seems to love this trope, judging from the cases of several characters in the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'':

* Creator/TimothyZahn's works often deconstruct this aspect of creating SuperSoldiers. The Cobras of ''Literature/TheCobraTrilogy'' are equipped with unbreakable bones, super strength, computerized combat reflexes, and the ability to shoot lasers from their hands and feet in order to make perfect covert guerrilla fighters. But the modifications lead to serious health problems later in life, not to mention that the combat reflexes can't just be turned off even in civilian life. The Copperheads of the ''Conquerors'' trilogy receive a direct-brain link to their spacecraft that makes them the fastest and deadliest combat pilots humanity has, but the link is so powerful and freeing that returning to being "merely human" afterwards is traumatic, and excessive use can even lead to borderline catatonia when not "plugged in."

* In ''Literature/TheCrossroadsSeries'' Logan has the ability to hear the dead and see a supernatural entity that others can’t see. Hearing the dead cry out to him near constantly takes a toll on him mentally and has him questioning his own sanity. His coping methods to tolerate the constant noise also isolate him from others.

* [[Literature/TheSecretsOfTheImmortalNicholasFlamel ''The Alchemyst'']] subverts this. When Sophie has her powers awakened, everyone keeps saying that the powers have extreme drawbacks and that she'd be better off without them. Except, when it happens, they don't actually suck. [[DoubleSubverted And then in later books]], the Witch of Endor's memories that are put inside her as a result start to overpower Sophie's own memories...[[spoiler: and then we learn that if Sophie loses control, the Witch of Endor might actually take over her mind.]]

* ''Literature/TuckEverlasting.'' The Tucks and their horse have drunk from a spring that made them immortal and froze them at the age they were when they drank it. Side effects, other than no longer being part of the circle of life, include being unable to settle down with mortal people because they will be ostracized or worse when their condition becomes apparent.

* In ''I Want to Go Home'' by Creator/GordonKorman, Rudy is a kid who can do ''anything'' easily and perfectly. This makes him terminally bored with everything they make him do at summer camp.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek":
** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Ghost Ship" Dr. Crusher explains to Captain Picard, Commander Riker, and Counselor Troi that the VISOR Geordi LaForge wears is ''very'' taxing for him due to the large amount of visual information fed into his brain by the device. The VISOR implants are so taxing that very few individuals are able to use the implants successfully.

* The ''Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier'' features it big style. There are legends of "The Great Bird Of Galaxy", and it settling down on a planet is considered a big blessing (for example by Hermats). It turns out legends are true but the blessing has a '''massive''' suck factor: said bird will fill your planet with easily harvestable energy which also has the ability to make the planet super-fertile -- but the energy is destined for the bird's embryo, which uses the planet as its egg, and destroys the planet when it hatches. [[spoiler: This is what happened to Thallon.]]

** Coll has a PowerTattoo which allows him to unerringly navigate and sail the magical Pirate Stream, but the price is that he can't ''stop'' sailing the Pirate Stream: if he stays in one place too long the tattoo [[AnimatedTattoo creeps around his neck]] and begins slowly choking him to death. He's TheStoic and it's heavily implied he's a ''lot'' [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld older than he looks]].

* When Dracula marries Queen Victoria in ''Literature/AnnoDracula'', many Europeans tried to get immortality as a vampire with the bonus of Dracula's bloodline getting shapeshifting (vampires like Lord Ruthven or Genevieve Dieudonne cannot). The problem is shapeshifting is difficult, often killing or mutilating failures and the further a descendant is from Dracula, the more unstable -- so many newborn die shortly after turning. Additionally Dracula's bloodline is corrupt, unlike other vampires, his descendants need to sleep in their own native soil or eventually start rotting and many suffer from early mental degeneration. Finally some of Dracula's brood share his weakness to holy water and crucifixes, something that non-superstitious vampires are usually immune to.

** At some point, the humans start considering their "Gift of Men" (meaning mortality) a curse. This was, of course, due to the corruptive influence of [[BigBad Sauron]] on the vastly powerful [[{{Atlantis}} Empire of Númenor]]. In the end, their envy of the long lives led by elves causes them to bring destruction upon themselves. The irony of it is that the Gift is wholly exclusive to Men, and that even the Valar, the most powerful beings in the universe (after [[{{God}} Ilúvatar]] himself), are said to be envious of this gift. Men are the only beings not tied to the fate of the world, and who can leave it one day without having to worry about its future. When one considers that the elven afterlife is explicitly not the same as the human afterlife, and that Tolkien was a devout Catholic, it adds a further implication that humans are the only people in Middle-earth capable of going to Heaven.
** This was the fate of the titular Hurin of ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin''. After he proved utterly unwilling to break to Morgoth's torture and threats, Morgoth laid two curses on him personally: first, he would gain Morgoth's unnatural sight, now being able to see things that happened to his family, and second, he would be unable to die, [[AgeWithoutYouth though he would age normally]]. More importantly, though, Morgoth also cursed his family, declaring that as long as they lived, things would go badly for them. Morgoth then stuck Hurin in a chair on a mountaintop and left him there. Hurin is forced to sit on the mountain for decades, ExposedToTheElements and unable to do anything, and ForcedToWatch as his family is destroyed by Morgoth's curse. Once he's free of his curses, he is now a broken and miserable man unrecognizable as the noble warrior he once was.

* ''Literature/Touch2017'''': Casper is a powerful [[TheEmpath empath]], to the degree that he spends every day almost drowning in the feelings of those around him.

* At some point, the humans from ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'' start considering their "Gift of Men" (meaning mortality) a curse. This was, of course, due to the corruptive influence of [[BigBad Sauron]] on the vastly powerful [[{{Atlantis}} Empire of Númenor]]. In the end, their envy of the long lives led by elves causes them to bring destruction upon themselves. The irony of it is that the Gift is wholly exclusive to Men, and that even the Valar, the most powerful beings in the universe (after [[{{God}} Ilúvatar]] himself), are said to be envious of this gift. Men are the only beings not tied to the fate of the world, and who can leave it one day without having to worry about its future.

* ''{{Subverted|Trope}}'' in Brandon Sanderson's ''Literature/AlcatrazVersusTheEvilLibrarians'' and sequels.

* Maine in ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'' has a truly phenomenal amount of magical power coursing through her body, but only nobles receive the tools and education needed to make use of those abilities. As such, the power builds up inside her and is threatening to kill her because she has no way to release it.

%% * Every man in ''Literature/ChaosWalking'' has their thoughts heard by everyone in the area. (So do the aliens, but they actually like the power, and it's vital for their communication.)

* Johnny Smith in ''Literature/TheDeadZone'' sees visions of past, present, and/or future [[{{Psychometry}} when he touches people or objects]], but he can't turn it off, and the person on the other end may feel anything from an odd zap, to a draining sensation, to a sudden instinctive sense of revulsion. In a coat room, looking for a hanger for his coat, he brushes against the coat of someone who is going insane, and spends the rest of the dinner worrying about who among the other diners it is. Every time the press get a hold of another incident, he's flooded with letters and packages from people wanting him to touch things for him, he loses his beloved teaching career because of the publicity, and when he's asked to help find a serial killer, he has to see the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl ''from the killer's point of view''!

* In an echo of the Midas myth, ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has a character who is cursed by a deity to have anything he touches turn into gold. Unfortunately, the aforesaid deity was dyslexic and cursed him with the ability to turn anything into ''Glod'', which happens to be the name of a dwarf several thousand miles away, who found himself teleported to the kingdom and relentlessly duplicated. The people of the kingdom are now known to be "a little [[{{Pun}} short-tempered]]".

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''

* Creator/RickRiordan's ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'': A good portion of the main cast has to deal with powers that can be either crappy or awesome, depending on the situation. Starting with the fact that all of them have a smell that entices monsters to them -- the stronger they (and their godly parents) are, the more they smell like a five course dinner, and the more they are together, the stronger the signal. Using electronics like cellphones and the internet makes it stronger too. Oh and their heightened battle instincts manifest in the form of ADHD, while their innate ability to understand/learn Greek and Latin comes out as dyslexia.

* Will Parry in ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' may be the king of this trope. He is destined to be the bearer of the Subtle Knife, which can slice through the barriers between worlds. [[spoiler: Gaining it mutilated his left hand, the "sign of the Bearer". On top of this, '''every single time he uses it''', for good or ill, he creates a hole into which Dust drains out of the world, and through which more Spectres are unleashed. And then there's the little matter of what the Knife is rumored to be destined to be used for...]]
* A couple of Tom Holt characters get put through this wringer. Paul Carpenter is, among other things, a powerful natural scryer, but his career in the novels starts with being sold by his parents to a wizarding company and goes downhill from there. An even ''more'' straight example is the star of ''Barking'', who was born slightly out of phase with the rest of the world and as [[strike: suck]] such can only be killed by someone else who's out of phase, but not only does this render him unable to do maths that fits in with everyone else's maths, but [[spoiler: someone is trying to use the law to keep from dying, and wants to shut him away to fail to do her post-mortem accounts for the rest of his lycanthropy-extended life]].

* In Creator/GeorgeMacDonald's pretty fairy tale ''The Light Princess,'' a vengeful witch curses a baby, upon her baptism, to have no gravity -- she is completely weightless, gets to levitate whenever she pleases, and, [[EnfanteTerrible as a baby]], causes many awkward explanations on the part of her parents. However, in an interesting twist, ''she'' thinks that the curse is a rollicking good joke -- another aspect of the curse is that she also loses her ''mental'' gravity and is unable to take anything seriously. The very fact that she can't comprehend sadness makes her parents even more miserable.

* In ''LightNovel/GatheringTheEnchanted'', Tristan. The poor guy needs to have the snot kicked out of him before he's able to help in a fight. And then if that one hit he musters doesn't pan out, he's gotta get beat up all over again.

* Joshua's empathy in the ''Literature/DoraWilkSeries''. On the plus side, the only people he can't stop hearing are Dora and Miron. On the other hand, there's so much UnresolvedSexualTension between those two that poor guy just can't take a rest. And when TheyDo, it's not the end of his troubles -- let's say, they're making out when he tries to sleep...

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Touma has what he calls "Imagine Breaker", a right hand that can [[AntiMagic absolutely cancel any esper/magic power]] it touches (even, according to him, miracles from the gods), which is useful considering the extremely powerful trouble he attracts starting with the first episode. However, it doesn't protect the ''rest'' of his body, isn't of any use in mundane situations, interferes with ''beneficial'' powers (e.g. healing), [[PowerIncontinence can't be turned off]], and also cancels his ''luck'', making every day a bad day and probably causing most of the deadly trouble in the first place. Without an inhumanly-skilled doctor on hand, he'd likely have died several times over by now -- he's actually ''ecstatic'' when he survives an arc ''without'' getting sent to the hospital for heavy injuries. [[spoiler: In Volume 14 it's implied by Terra of the Left that Touma's power probably might cover his entire body. Which means he might become [[NighInvulnerable completely untouchable by any supernatural power]].]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':

* Any woman without strong magical resistance will fall in love with Lancer in ''LightNovel/FateZero'' if they see the 'love spot' on his face. Okay, sounds like that might get kinda awkward at times, but that's really not ''that'' bad right? Unfortunately, it has a bad tendency to work on his lord's fiancee or wife, who then grow obsessed with him. Sola gets rather {{yandere}}, in fact. Oh, and then his lord kills him, no matter what he does about the situation. It also happens to be described as a 'curse.'

* ''LightNovel/BanishedFromTheHerosParty'':

* In the ''Literature/BlackJewels'' trilogy, Jaenelle Angelline is the most powerful being to have existed for centuries, if not ever... and it completely fucks her life up. She [[UncannyValley frightens and repulses]] her family, leading them to send her to Briarwood, a correctional institution that's actually a [[spoiler: playground for pedophiles.]] She's rendered incapable of the smallest tasks. And in the final climax of the story, she's completely helpless to save the people she loves because [[PersonOfMassDestruction she can't find a way to fight back that wouldn't kill]] ''[[PersonOfMassDestruction everyone]]''.

* Kij Johnson's short story, ''The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change'' takes place after an unspecified event has granted human-like intelligence to dogs, cats, and a handful of other nonhumans. So in other words, dogs are now able to speak with humans. The thing is, [[FurryConfusion they are still]] ''[[UncannyValley dogs]]'', with [[HumansThroughAlienEyes all that implies]]. And if you consider [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman how humans have treated dogs throughout history]], you've probably guessed that things don't work out so well for either species.

* This is basically the reaction of both Sheltis and Ymy in ''LightNovel/HyouketsuKyoukaiNoEden'' about their mateki and shinryouku energy respectively. Sheltis has one of the most powerful mateki in him which is perfect for killing Yuugenshu. Meanwhile, Ymy's overwhelming shinryouku is perfect for repelling Yuugenshu. When the two of them make contact, an Elbert Resonance occurs which means both parties will give off sparks that would harm the both of them. [[StarCrossedLovers It causes angst for the both of them.]]

* Maine in ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'' has a truly phenomenal amount of magical power coursing through her body, but only nobles receive the tools and education needed to make use of those abilities. As such, the power builds up inside her and is threatening to kill her because she has no way to release it.

* ''LightNovel/ReZero'' has the protagonist Subaru's [[NewLifeInAnotherWorldBonus ability,]] Return By Death: an ability that causes him to be "reset" to a specific time when he dies, [[SaveScumming as if he's loading a checkpoint in a video game]]. The ability has saved him countless times, and without it, he would have died permanently in the first episode... but he's still not exactly happy about having it, for a variety of reasons. The fact that it requires him to ''die'' to activate it is the main one, as [[TimeLoopFatigue it causes some major problems for the poor guy's mental health]], and he also doesn't have much control over ''when'' the "checkpoints" happen. He's also a pretty bad fighter on his own for a while, meaning his ability to help out in situations without dying somehow is limited. And on top of that, he can't actually ''tell'' someone about the power -- if he tries, it causes him immense pain, or kills them.

* Zelgadis Graywords from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' wants to become strong, so his great-grandfather makes him strong. By turning him into a 1/3 rock golem, 1/3 blow demon chimera with blue skin and wire hair. He then devotes his life to finding a cure for this condition. Most of the time we see him he's hanging around the rest of the cast or has himself covered in clothes head to foot. Also showing the effects of his appearance beyond it being funny is not particularly on the show's agenda. There's also been rumored a solo story about Zelgadis on his own that got scrapped because it was too dark and serious for the usual Slayers tone. But put in some imagination (given how most people react to someone who looks weird) and the fact he sinks in water, his hair can get stuck in wood etc and there's plenty there that sucks. In ''Slayers Evolution-R'' it's shown in a flashback how children Zelgadis used to play with start to consider him a monster after his change -- oddly, considering that they also used to play with wolfman Dilgear and fishman Noonsa with no reaction to ''their'' monstrous appearances. It seems that Zelgadis only became serious about finding the cure after it became clear to him that Rezo was only using him as a tool, and didn't change him because he cared about him, as he claimed.

* ''Gislaug'', titular character of the the narrative poem cycle ''Literature/{{Haugtussa}}'' (''Fairy mound girl'', written by Norwegian writer Arne Garborg), is given the "sight" (not unlike Danny´s powers in ''Literature/TheShining''). This is a mixed blessing at best, because it alienates her from her community, destroys her possibilities for love, and she is essentially haunted by every secondary world being in her home area. She ends up as a mix of MysteriousWaif, WaifProphet and downright CloudCuckoolander, but in a moment of clarity, she actually chooses this over the alternative -- not seeing anything at all. This messy situation is eventually solved, and she ends up as a wise, caring woman in the end.

* In the world of ''LightNovel/{{Maburaho}}'', everyone has a set number of magic spells they can use in life (normally around 500, with one individual going as high as 140,000). When [[CastFromHitPoints their number hits zero]], they are ReducedToAsh and scattered to the four winds. Protagonist Kazuki's spell total is... Eight. The silver lining: Thanks to Kazuki's linage from [[SuperPowerfulGenetics most of the world's most prominent magical families]], his spells are off-the-charts, potentially world-shapingly powerful. One would think seven potential genie wishes (plus [[StalkerWithATestTube the attention from attractive women his lineage brings]]) would be a sufficient trade-off. But he can't stop dwelling on his shortcomings (mostly his [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything small spell count]]) to take advantage of his situation. And he's also has a harem protagonist's [[IdiotHero traditional]] [[ObliviousToLove denseness]], so it never occurs to him that he has a situation to take advantage of.

* ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'' and ''Literature/HideMeAmongTheGraves'': It's great being a Nephilim's lover. You develop astounding skill with language and words, and you'll be [[MadeOfIron protected from anything that could ever hurt you]], [[WhoWantsToLiveForever even old age and death]]. And all it wants is all of your love. [[KillEmAll Oh, and the deaths of everyone else in your life.]] And you won't be allowed to love anyone else. [[AndIMustScream Not even yourself.]]