"I've never really thought as myself as a savior, I just want to fight strong opponents. But I can't just stand by and watch innocent people and animals suffer. That's what my grandpa taught me."
— Goku, Dragon Ball Super
Meryl: Why were you even going to magic school if you didn't want to be a hero?
Jim: You want to know why I was studying magic?
Meryl: To be a hero?
Jim: I was going to open a shop. My very own little magic shop in a nice gullible town somewhere. With velvet blue curtains on the ceiling and shelves covered in weird-shaped jars full of colored liquid and body parts. That's what kind of people we are, Meryl. We're shopkeepers. Passers-by. Undead minions numbers thirty-two and thirty-three. We're not the heroes.
Meryl: But...
Jim: Heroes are the kinds of people we used to torture. Those dicks who lit us on fire this afternoon, they're heroes. They swagger into a village, sort out any problem that can be solved by whacking it a few times, make out with the blacksmith's daughter, then bugger off long enough for the problems to come back. They load themselves down with armor and weapons and treasure because inside they're very empty, sad little people. In the long run, they've never achieved anything, ever.
Jim: You want to know why I was studying magic?
Meryl: To be a hero?
Jim: I was going to open a shop. My very own little magic shop in a nice gullible town somewhere. With velvet blue curtains on the ceiling and shelves covered in weird-shaped jars full of colored liquid and body parts. That's what kind of people we are, Meryl. We're shopkeepers. Passers-by. Undead minions numbers thirty-two and thirty-three. We're not the heroes.
Meryl: But...
Jim: Heroes are the kinds of people we used to torture. Those dicks who lit us on fire this afternoon, they're heroes. They swagger into a village, sort out any problem that can be solved by whacking it a few times, make out with the blacksmith's daughter, then bugger off long enough for the problems to come back. They load themselves down with armor and weapons and treasure because inside they're very empty, sad little people. In the long run, they've never achieved anything, ever.
— Mogworld
"I am not a good man! And I'm not a bad man. I am not a hero. And I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver. Just passing through, helping out, learning."
— The Twelth Doctor, Doctor Who, "Death in Heaven"
Magnussen: Sorry, no chance for you to be a hero this time, Mr. Holmes.
Mycroft: [over intercom] Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, stand away from that man. Do it now!
Sherlock: Oh, do your research! I'm not a hero! I'm a high-functioning sociopath! Merry Christmas! [shoots Magnussen]
Mycroft: [over intercom] Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, stand away from that man. Do it now!
Sherlock: Oh, do your research! I'm not a hero! I'm a high-functioning sociopath! Merry Christmas! [shoots Magnussen]
— Sherlock, "His Last Vow"
Thomas: In one sense, you are a true Norwegian hero.
Hans: No, you're wrong about that. There's nothing heroic about what I do. It's dirty work.
Hans: No, you're wrong about that. There's nothing heroic about what I do. It's dirty work.
"I'm not your hero. I'm just a dumbass with an IQ of Zero!"
Hoshi: You and Rui... You two were made to be heroes. Your role is to save the world, right?
Celesia: Yeah. So?
Hoshi: I wasn't given a role. My day-to-day life? That's my story. I can't fight like you can or pilot a giant robot like Rui could... I only deliver food, write some sappy story about a fiery bugman, and that's it. In the end, I'm just some nobody. I'm not even supposed to be here...
Celesia: It's true, you're not like us... But... Your Creation handed that belt to you. Your own son has faith in you. And you proved his faith with that fight. In a way, you are like us.
Hoshi: In what sense?
Celesia: You may be just a human, but you can be a hero.
Celesia: Yeah. So?
Hoshi: I wasn't given a role. My day-to-day life? That's my story. I can't fight like you can or pilot a giant robot like Rui could... I only deliver food, write some sappy story about a fiery bugman, and that's it. In the end, I'm just some nobody. I'm not even supposed to be here...
Celesia: It's true, you're not like us... But... Your Creation handed that belt to you. Your own son has faith in you. And you proved his faith with that fight. In a way, you are like us.
Hoshi: In what sense?
Celesia: You may be just a human, but you can be a hero.
"I'm not a hero, because calling yourself a hero makes you a self-mythologizing narcissistic autocrat."
— Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
"I've never been Aesc the Savior. I'm just Aesc the Witch."
— Aesc the Savior, aka the past identity of Queen Morgan, to Mash Kyrielight, Fate/Grand Order
Chloe: I’m so excited to fight alongside you, Sir Sigurd. You’re like a knight right out of a fairy tale!
Sigurd: I am no storybook hero. Only a man who fights for the people. Something we both believe in.
Sigurd: I am no storybook hero. Only a man who fights for the people. Something we both believe in.
