History Main / ConceptsAreCheap

* ''Literature/DonQuixote'' is a deconstruction of this trope: In the first part of the novel, he wants to be a KnightErrant ForGreatJustice. In reality, he is TheHedonist and all his efforts are really guided to live his dreams, but he doesn't accept it because he is a {{hypocrite}}. In the second part of the novel, his motivation changes ForHappiness. But this time Don Quixote is an honest man who must admit at the end of the novel that [[ShaggyDogStory his efforts didn't help anyone]] and his ChivalricRomance [[FanDisillusionment dreams were shallow]].

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' skillfully uses this trope as a plot point. As season 2 beings, Celestial Being managed to end war [[spoiler:by making themselves the entire world's common enemy, which is not what they hoped for, also everyone is being oppressed by the A-Laws who are an expy of the Titans from ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'']].

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In lesser stories, "WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility" becomes this. It was never really Peter's BadassCreed as later comics made it out to be. It was just a caption voiced by the narrator in ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15'' in classic Creator/StanLee dated PurpleProse. But the attempt to make this Spider-Man's ethos often leads to much fuzziness about what powers and responsibilities mean, leading to much InformedAttribute. Peter fights crime for the grand glorious cause of Responsibility: he has the power to do it, so he has to do it. (It ''does'' spin out of his OriginStory, but still.) This may mean that he was doomed to become a superhero no matter what: he was introduced as a young genius almost on par with the other super scientists of the time like [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]], [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], and [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]. Thus, he had great power, and thus, great responsibility.

** The Sith are dangerous moral relativists, except when they're rigid moral absolutists, but in the end they only seem to be whatever term the story can hang off them to make then [[CardCarryingVillain eeeevil]].

* Makoto Naegi in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' genuinely believed in hope as a valuable concept, and it paid off in the final trial against the BigBad's DespairGambit. [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair The second game]]'s Ultimate Lucky Student, Nagito Komaeda, Naegi's OddballDoppelganger, seems intended to satirize the idea by using the word in the context of doing horrible things like arranging for a murder to occur or helping the culprit to see whose hope was "stronger" under the guise of fighting for hope in general (instead of some specific hope). All while proving again and again that the he's more infatuated by the idea of hope, rather than having any hope of his own; Naegi may have been a HumbleHero, but he never went around calling himself 'trash' the way Komaeda does, and while while he was always sure to TurnTheOtherCheek by sending blame for people's misconduct towards The Mastermind, he never reveled in seeing followers of despair get punished.

* Both played straight, and often subverted, in ''VideoGame/WorldofWarcraft''. The factions both have guiding principles that they ''claim'' to strive towards: like honor, hope, peace, freedom etc. But, much like real-world politics, it is not at all uncommon for characters to talk about these principles...while doing the exact opposite. On occasion however, characters absolutely will live up to the principles they talk about. Because of this, fans often spend a LOT of time discussing who is for real and who is blowing hot air. This is one reason why in nearly every expansion you'll see some segment of the fans saying "the writing is bad". Also, this trope is frequently lampshaded by {{NPC}}s (sometimes almost to the point of BreakingTheFourthWall). The game is actually on the idealistic side though: with the caveat that sometimes the "good guys" are a bit less than perfectly good.

* Makoto Naegi in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' genuinely believed in hope as a valuable concept, and it paid off in the final trial against the BigBad's DespairGambit. [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair The second game]]'s Ultimate Lucky Student, Nagito Komaeda, Naegi's OddballDoppelganger, seems intended to satirize the idea by using the word in the context of doing horrible things like arranging for a murder to occur or helping the culprit to see who's hope was "stronger" under the guise of fighting for hope in general (instead of some specific hope). All while proving again and again that the he's more infatuated by the idea of hope, rather than having any hope of his own; Naegi may have been a HumbleHero, but he never went around calling himself 'trash' the way Komaeda does, and while while he was always sure to TurnTheOtherCheek by sending blame for people's misconduct towards The Mastermind, he never reveled in seeing followers of despair get punished.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In lesser stories, "WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility" becomes this. It was never really Peter's BadassCreed as later comics made it out to be. It was just a caption voiced by the narrator in ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumberFifteen'' in classic Creator/StanLee dated PurpleProse. But the attempt to make this Spider-Man's ethos often leads to much fuzziness about what powers and responsibilities mean, leading to much InformedAttribute. Peter fights crime for the grand glorious cause of Responsibility: he has the power to do it, so he has to do it. (It ''does'' spin out of his OriginStory, but still.) This may mean that he was doomed to become a superhero no matter what: he was introduced as a young genius almost on par with the other super scientists of the time like [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]], [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], and [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]. Thus, he had great power, and thus, great responsibility.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Back in the day]] the title character spent a lot of time demolishing substandard ghetto housing, exposing political corruption, and standing up for the rights of immigrants and the little guy. He was a New Deal superhero! But politics is bad for sales, so Superman started to fight for the magnificent generality of "truth, justice and the American way" (the last part added in the 40s for the radio program), and as long as he limits himself to hitting supervillains in the jaw, it doesn't matter. No two people can agree on what Superman "really stands for" anymore, but they all agree it's ''very heroic''. "The American way" part is also often dropped in modern stories, although it's usually only Americans who complain about this.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker fights crime for the grand glorious cause of Responsibility: he has the power to do it, so he has to do it. (It ''does'' spin out of his OriginStory, but still.) This may mean that he was doomed to become a superhero no matter what: he was introduced as a young genius almost on par with the other super scientists of the time like [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]], [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], and [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]. Thus, he had great power, and thus, great responsibility.
* Inverted by the morally gray characters of Creator/AlanMoore.
** ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'': V fights for "freedom" not in the form of a vague generality, but in the form of smashing the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Norsefire regime]] and creating a state of anarchy that may or may not be an improvement.
** In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', Rorschach and [[spoiler:Ozymandias]], in very different ways and results, devote their entire lives to their ideals, at the cost of distancing themselves from the morality (and, in Rorschach's case, hygiene standards) of everyday folk. [[spoiler:Ozymandias firmly believes that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans and that a few million deaths to prevent the ''rest'' of the global population from dying is an acceptable sacrifice, while Rorschach believes that ''not even Utopia'' justifies the means, and that global extinction under the truth is better than peace through a lie.]]
* Periodically, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica will become disillusioned when he realizes that even he doesn't really know what representing "America" really means.
* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'':
** Villain Prometheus was designed as a sort of reverse Batman, whose parents were Bonnie and Clyde-like criminals gunned down by the police before his eyes. Why did he take on the Justice League? Because his parents' death instilled in him a deep and abiding ''hatred of justice.'' It's entirely possible it was meant to be as trite as it sounds, but most writers (and readers) don't treat it that way.
** In the mini-series "ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice" , suddenly, every single major character spends the entire series demanding "justice" without ever bothering to define what it means or how it's different from what the other heroes are already doing. Their actions are also closer to that of [[{{Revenge}} another concept]] altogether. Prometheus himself is the villain of the piece, funnily enough.
* ''Comicbook/AngelaAsgardsAssassin'': its main character Angela, and by extension all Angels of Heven (this is the in-comic spelling), says her culture centres around materialism and EquivalentExchange. Justice? Honor? Family? All those big and important words they translate to '''Nothing''' or to put it more flowery:

* While "heart", "light", and "darkness" have always been main concepts in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series, ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' spams them throughout the script so often that they start to lose their meaning as time goes on.

** ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', wherein a rant by Sir Samuel results in the rebels fighting for truth, justice, freedom, reasonably-priced love (as the [[UnusualEuphemism seamstresses]] objected to the inclusion of "free love")... and a hard-boiled egg, because at least the egg can be had by morning. [[spoiler: Not that he gets to eat it.]]

'''Goliath:''' No. Gargoyles protect. It is our nature. Our purpose.