Basic Trope: One or more characters are lonely and have a desire for companionship, possibly as a motivation.
- Straight: Eric is sad to have no friends.
- Exaggerated: Eric has no one to trust or confide in and this makes him feel worthless.
- Downplayed: Eric has one friend (maybe a pet) but would like to have several friends, like everyone in his life does.
- Justified:
- Eric has been picked on for being a loner.
- No human being really gets along without other people and he wonders what is wrong with him for not having any friends.
- Eric's parents push him to be more sociable and establish networks "for his own good".
- Inverted: Eric judges his friends as worthless and wishes to be alone.
- Subverted:
- Eric seems to get along without friends just fine.
- Eric is initially upset about being friendless but eventually comes to enjoy being alone.
- Double Subverted: Except deep down somewhere there's still that longing.
- Parodied: Jerk Jock Eric cries and whines that he doesn't have any friends. His ninety-seven close friends all miss the irony and comfort him simultaneously.
- Zig Zagged: Eric lost his best friends in tragic circumstances, for which he blames himself; being around other friends or attempting to make new ones merely reminds him how much he'd rather still have the ones he lost. New friends are unsatisfying and pale substitutes for the friends he lost, as well as something he doesn't feel he deserves: his isolation is both penance and paying respect to his fallen friends.
- Averted:
- Eric really is perfectly content in being alone.
- Eric has friends and he's perfectly happy with his social life.
- Enforced: "Our heroes are a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits. Let's throw in a lonely kid."
- Lampshaded: "Why doesn't Eric have friends? It's not like he's been bullied or anything."
- Invoked: Sarah, who wishes to be Eric's friend, tries to get him to admit his desire for it so he'd let her close.
- Exploited: Jim manipulates/persuades Eric to do something by his wish of getting friends.
- Defied: Eric denies wanting friends.
- Discussed:A: So how's your session with Eric?
B: He still doesn't want to leave that group.
A: Hmm, it might have something to do with wanting friends.
B: Pretty much. To Eric, the people in that group were his only friends, so he doesn't want to leave them. - Conversed:A: Eric, The Protagonist of this show, really really wants friends.
B: I don't find him relatable. I wasn't like that when I was a teenager. Being a loner is cool.
A: Well, not everyone is like you. Many people in Real Life desperately want friends.
B: I guess that's why shounen shows are still popular. - Deconstructed:
- Eric ends up cruelly manipulating and blackmailing people in order to get them to be his friend which leads him to be considered a bully.
- Eric's lack of friends takes a toll on his mental health and self-esteem, and he makes poor, desperate choices for friendship.
- Eric may even give up on or refuse to make friends, due to him having a difficult time gaining them.
- Eric may find himself being envious of people who have genuine friends.
- Eric wants friends but only wants them on his terms, rejecting them if they don't meet his standards.
- Reconstructed:
- A relative or acquaintance of Eric intervenes to teach them about the nature of friendship and helps them to understand the nuances of socializing.
- As a result of desperately reaching out, Eric also manages to make a few suitable friends who stop him from getting into too much trouble.
- Other more assertive characters try and make friends with Eric, much to his surprise. Emboldened, he continues to try and make friends, with some successes.
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