History FatalFlaw / Literature

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' has Katniss Everdeen and her consistent "Us vs Them" mentality. She constantly characterises everyone as her enemy unless they prove otherwise -- in the first book she obsesses over Peeta definitely planning to kill her and misinterprets everything he does as trying to make her let her guard down, she views the Career tributes as her enemy instead of seeing them as fellow victims, she decides everybody else in the Quarter Quell is her enemy and plans on killing them first, [[{{Hypocrite}} whilst decrying them as waiting to slaughter her and Peeta at first opportunity]]...the list goes on.

* ''Franchise/LesMiserables'':

* Jay in the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' series is a highly competent agent for the Taysan Empire, fearless, clever and resourceful, with a talent for deception and masquerade that is highly unusual in his species. But he is constantly undermined by his compulsive womanising, which has brought him to the brink of disaster at least twice. It's all the more dangerous because sexual immorality is actually a crime in his society.

* Hubris is a common tragic flaw in mythology and classical literature. One of the more famous examples is Odysseus, who is forced to undergo a 10-year voyage home after angering Poseidon with his arrogance.

* The Wizarding community as a whole; is their out-of-bounds Purity of Blood obsession and their heavy usage of Pride. Many readers have a sour taste in their mouth due to this hammered in every senior student and long-term Professor in Hogwarts that HonorbeforeReason and TheRightofaSuperiorSpecies to convey that what the reader is seeing is not wrong but a VERY bad definition of "complicated". Harry and his Companions have to navigate this trapped maze of Humility vs. Hubris, often Hubris having more control over the board with its "born and earn" magic.

* ''Literature/TheBible'':
** ''Literature/BookOfGenesis'' -- Adam and Eve's ignorance allows them to be manipulated into losing the Garden of Eden for good. Cain's temper leads him to kill his brother for a petty reason and become cursed for it.
** ''Literature/BookOfExodus'' -- Moses' anger leads to the destruction of the first set of tablets he receives from God, and then gets him banned from the Promised Land. Aaron's weak leadership almost leads to the destruction of the Israelites. Miriam's overzealousness gets her cursed with illness.
** ''Literature/BookOfJudges'' -- Jephthah's rashness causes him to lose his only daughter in an unlawful sacrifice. Samson's lust for women and drink causes him to lose his prodigious strength at a critical moment, though his repentance allows him to briefly get it back for a DyingMomentOfAwesome.
** ''Literature/BooksOfSamuel'' -- Saul's tendency to disobey God and ignore His prophet Samuel causes him to lose his kingdom and then his life. David's lust leads him to take the wife of one of his most loyal generals, leading to a chain of events that cause a rebellion and the loss of his son.
** ''Literature/BooksOfKings'' -- Solomon's [[LonelyAtTheTop dissatisfaction with his life]] leads him to try to fill the void with money and women, which leads to the loss of the lion's share of his kingdom and ultimately the fall of Israel. Though, we did get some very good poetry out of it. Ahab's inability to stand up to his wife causes him to catastrophically misrule Israel, to the extent that he is ''still'' remembered as one of the worst kings the land ever had.
** ''Literature/TheFourGospels'' -- Simon Peter means well, but lacks fortitude and [[OpenMouthInsertFoot keeps sticking his foot in his mouth]]. As a result, Jesus constantly has to correct him and, when the chips are down, Peter abandons him. Fortunately, he grows out of this in time to lead Jesus's followers after the latter [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence takes off.]]

* ''Literature/TheIliad'': The Trojan Royal Family is so tight that they protect Paris even though they know he is wrong for taking Helen with him. [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar This dooms them and their country]].

* ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'''s obsessive love for Daisy, [[LovingAShadow despite the fact she isn't worth it]]

** ''Literature/BooksOfSamuel'' -- Saul's tendency to disobey God and ignore his prophet Samuel causes him to lose his kingdom and then his life. David's lust leads him to take the wife of one of his most loyal generals, leading to a chain of events that cause a rebellion and the loss of his son.

*** {{Pride}} and [[ItsAllAboutMe an inflated ego]]. It's not so much petty, plain-old narcissism and arrogance than it is outright full-blown megalomania, and SanityHasAdvantages. He's in the top three for the smartest and most powerful wizards in the world and he knows it, so he tends to go out of his way to add a flair of grandeur and grace to his plans while attempting to achieve his objectives in the way he thinks will be more terrifying. For example, he challenges Harry to a duel in the graveyard purely to show off to his Death Eaters, when the most pragmatic option would be to simply ''Avada Kedavra'' Harry right there and then while Harry was still tied up, wandless, and helpless. This extends to his Horcruxes -- while he was smart enough to put some very nasty protections around them, his obsessive desire to collect trophies made him only create [[SoulJar Horcruxes]] out of unique and personally meaningful objects like artifacts from the Four Founders and hide them in places that held personal importance (e.g. Marvolo's ring in the Gaunt shack), making them comparatively easy to track down by people who knew his past, while Harry immediately notices that they would be ''much'' harder to find if he'd just chosen random objects and hidden them in random locations. He also has a tendency to think that other people weren't able to do things he did, such as find the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts.

* ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'': Despite exploiting Anna and Elsa's flaws in [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 the film]], Hans here is unaware that his own weakness is [[AmbitionIsEvil ambition]]. He becomes too desperate in getting what he wants [[DidntThinkThisThrough while ignoring the consequences]] when he takes unethical routes. [[IgnoredEpiphany At times, he knows]] [[DebateAndSwitch what he's doing is wrong and even scolds himself]], yet he impulsively goes through it. Being abused by his family for his ineptitude slowly becomes the breaking point and [[WellDoneSonGuy ultimately pushes him into desperately attempting to win his distant family's respect]]. Hans corrupts his own morals while serving as his father's gofer, committing things he once hated. As such, the time he spends prepping up on going to Arendelle is wasted because he can't contain his issues and goes to the extreme of attempting regicide. Only at the end does he have a HeelRealization, but by then, he's in damage control mode as he's being sent back to the same hellhole he wanted to escape from.
* In the ''Literature/NightfallSeries'', there is a case of a villain having a 'Fatal Virtue,' which is his greatest weakness. Prince Vladimir is the BigBad, who has destroyed human civilization and is breeding the survivors for vampire food. However, he is in love with human art and literature, and this is the only thing the heroes can use against him.
* ''Literature/TheShahnameh'': Esfandiar's obsession with becoming king is how he's manipulated into fighting his tutor Rostam, even though he knows it's the wrong thing to do. Going up against Rostam, of course, is as fatal as it gets!
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' could fairly be described as a dozen or so tragedies going on simultaneously (with several in the backstory). This implies almost every single character having their own fatal flaws.
** A common flaw in the Starks is HonorBeforeReason (which could be seen as a form of {{pride}}), especially in Eddard and Robb. Eddard's flaw is his undying love for his friends and family, which motivated him to go to King's Landing to help Robert and then lie about Joffrey's parentage to attempt to save his daughters. And Robb's flaw is more of a need to be like his dad.
** Robert Baratheon meets his death thanks to alcoholism.
** The Lannisters lean toward {{pride}} with a side of wrath: see Tywin, Cersei, and Joffrey. A big part of Tyrion and especially Jaime's character development is overcoming this. To be more specific:
** Tywin, aside from being overly elitist and ruthless (which makes him a lot of enemies), cannot overcome first impressions. The reason he hates Tyrion so much is because he cannot stop seeing the poor kid as [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild the reason his beloved wife Joanna died]], despite Tyrion actually being the best politician of his kids. [[spoiler: It also gets him killed when Tyrion confronts him over his abuse of Tyrion's lowborn wife and claims that she was a whore. Up until the end, Twyin never believed that Tyrion would actually kill him.]]
** Cersei's is short-sighted paranoia, with a side of sticking to first impressions like her dad. She was once given a prophecy that she would be usurped by a younger sibling and replaced with a younger woman, and ever since then she's seen candidates for both those positions ''everywhere''. Anyone who doesn't practically worship her and kiss her ass constantly is an enemy, and her overreactions and cruelty tend to ''make'' people enemies even if they weren't before.
** Joffrey's is being StupidEvil. Everything he does is to satiate his short-term bloodlust, and he angers pretty much ''everyone'' in the series who's not Cersei. His sadism is why the Lannisters are at war with the Starks, and he eventually dies when he commits one petty act of evil too many and someone poisons him. No one knows who the murderer was, because [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole there's just too many suspects]].
** Theon's could be considered [[AmbitionIsEvil ambition]] with a side of {{pride}}. He gets both [[BreakTheHaughty beaten out of him]] by [[HumiliationConga hard experience]].

* ''Literature/ThePillarsOfTheEarth'': William Hamleigh is not a hero by any stretch of the imagination, but he is absolutely terrified of going to {{Hell}}. It's a flaw because others use it to exploit him and make him do their bidding.
* In ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', it's explicitly stated that every demigod has a Fatal Flaw which, if not mastered, will lead to their death. Annabeth's fatal flaw is explicitly stated to be hubris (except Percy thinks she says hummus)- she thinks she can handle any situation and make anything better. Percy's is personal loyalty--he will do anything necessary to save the people he cares about, even if that means ignoring the greater good. Thalia's fatal flaw is that she has a weak resistance to offers of power, to the point she seriously considered betraying her friend to become more powerful than the gods (though her conflicting feelings over this were apparent). It's a good thing Mr.D was able to step in otherwise she probably would have given in. [[spoiler:Nico and Bianca]] have the Fatal Flaw of holding grudges, which they inherited from their father just as Thalia did hers.

*** {{Pride}} and [[ItsAllAboutMe an inflated ego]]. It's not so much petty, plain-old narcissism and arrogance than it is outright full-blown megalomania, and SanityHasAdvantages. He's in the top three for the smartest and most powerful wizards in the world and he knows it, so he tends to go out of his way to add a flair of grandeur and grace to his plans while attempting to achieve his objectives in the way he thinks will be more terrifying. For example, he challenges Harry to a duel in the graveyard purely to show off to his Death Eaters, when the most pragmatic option would be to simply ''Avada Kedavra'' Harry right there and then while Harry was still tied up, wandless, and helpless. This extends to his Horcruxes- while he was smart enough to put some very nasty protections around them, his obsessive desire to collect trophies made him only create [[SoulJar Horcruxes]] out of unique and personally meaningful objects like artifacts from the Four Founders and hide them in places that held personal importance (e.g. Marvolo's ring in the Gaunt shack), making them comparatively easy to track down by people who knew his past, while Harry immediately notices that they would be ''much'' harder to find if he'd just chosen random objects and hidden them in random locations. He also has a tendency to think that other people weren't able to do things he did, such as find the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts.

* Heathcliff of ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' holds on to grudges and spends his life getting even with people who were mean to him. He uses his own family as pawns and holds Kathy on such a high pedestal that he refuses to see that everything that happened to him was her fault. He is also blind to the fact that his revenge can never last so when he dies and everything reverts back to normal, it's like nothing happened.
* Captain Ahab's obsession with revenge against ''Literature/MobyDick'', which dooms not only himself, but his ship and nearly everyone on his crew.
* Ambrosio, titular character of ''Literature/TheMonk'', commits the sin of {{pride}} long before he starts committing any of his truly deplorable acts. It is his pride that allows him to believe himself holy while he continues to sin.

* The animals of ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' were far too [[DumbIsGood trusting]]. Benjamin the donkey is too cynical and refuses to voice out his concerns about the Rebellion's aftermath.

* ''Literature/TheBible'':
** ''Literature/BookOfGenesis'' - Adam and Eve's ignorance allows them to be manipulated into losing the Garden of Eden for good. Cain's temper leads him to kill his brother for a petty reason and become cursed for it.
** ''Literature/BookOfExodus'' - Moses' anger leads to the destruction of the first set of tablets he receives from God, and then gets him banned from the Promised Land. Aaron's weak leadership almost leads to the destruction of the Israelites. Miriam's overzealousness gets her cursed with illness.
** ''Literature/BookOfJudges'' - Jephthah's rashness causes him to lose his only daughter in an unlawful sacrifice. Samson's lust for women and drink causes him to lose his prodigious strength at a critical moment, though his repentance allows him to briefly get it back for a DyingMomentOfAwesome.
** ''Literature/BooksOfSamuel'' - Saul's tendency to disobey God and ignore his prophet Samuel causes him to lose his kingdom and then his life. David's lust leads him to take the wife of one of his most loyal generals, leading to a chain of events that cause a rebellion and the loss of his son.
** ''Literature/BooksOfKings'' - Solomon's [[LonelyAtTheTop dissatisfaction with his life]] leads him to try to fill the void with money and women, which leads to the loss of the lion's share of his kingdom and ultimately the fall of Israel. Though, we did get some very good poetry out of it. Ahab's inability to stand up to his wife causes him to catastrophically misrule Israel, to the extent that he is ''still'' remembered as one of the worst kings the land ever had.
** ''Literature/TheFourGospels'' - Simon Peter means well, but lacks fortitude and [[OpenMouthInsertFoot keeps sticking his foot in his mouth]]. As a result, Jesus constantly has to correct him and, when the chips are down, Peter abandons him. Fortunately, he grows out of this in time to lead Jesus's followers after the latter [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence takes off.]]
* ''Literature/TheApprenticeRogue'': [[spoiler: Falita is consumed by her greed and steals Leona's necklace, which leads to tragedy. She even takes the hemp string on the necklace, despite recognizing that it was worthless, because it was part of the necklace. The narration notes that she might have gotten away clean if she didn't take the string.]]

* ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'''s obsessive love for Daisy, [[LovingAShadow despite the fact she isn't worth it]]
* In the ''Samurai Kids'' book ''Monkey Fist,'' [[TheHero Niya's]] flaw is loyalty- he will not abandon a friend for any reason. While this may sound like a good thing, it really isn't. In the novel's climax, Niya's [[TrueCompanions companion]], Kyoko, has been kidnapped by a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt imperial minister]], who offers to release her if the protagonists reveal the location of a group of benevolent monks politically opposed to him. Niya's thought process clearly shows that, had the choice been his, he would have betrayed the monks and let them die if it meant Kyoko's safety.

* The titular ''Literature/{{Julian}}'' has a deep craving for the mystical and incomprehensible. Relying on the insights of a [[LargeHam hammy]] soothsayer isn't wise, especially when you're the Emperor of Rome.

* ''Franchise/LesMiserables'':
** Jean Valjean has ChronicHeroSyndrome and he will save every person he can even if he screws up other lives in the process.
** Javert's BlackAndWhiteMorality blinded him to the reality that some people can't afford to be as law-abiding as him. He kills himself after letting Valjean (who had saved his life earlier) go and feared he has betrayed his own principles.
** Fantine is a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter which is why she got pregnant in the first place, then she left her daughter in the care of an ObviouslyEvil couple who proceeded to maltreat Cosette and extort more money from her causing her to prostitute herself. Her temper also gets her a lot in trouble.
* Pride for Hollyleaf in ''Literature/WarriorCats''. She believes that she deserves to be a leader of the Clan, and that her devotion to warrior code makes her a better cat than those outside of the Clans. This leads to her downfall, after she discovers that she is not a cat of pure heritage. First, she murders a cat threatening to reveal her origin, when she believes that it prevent her from becoming a leader. Later, when she learns that she is of even more illegal lineage than she thought, she collapses completely and goes on a rampage to punish everyone involved. She eventually abandons her pride and accepts her fate with humility, redeeming herself.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' has Katniss Everdeen and her consistent "Us vs Them" mentality. She constantly characterises everyone as her enemy unless they prove otherwise - in the first book she obsesses over Peeta definitely planning to kill her and misinterprets everything he does as trying to make her let her guard down, she views the Career tributes as her enemy instead of seeing them as fellow victims, she decides everybody else in the Quarter Quell is her enemy and plans on killing them first, [[{{Hypocrite}} whilst decrying them as waiting to slaughter her and Peeta at first opportunity]]...the list goes on.
* In the novel Literature/ThePostBirthdayWorld, Irina's passiveness and need for a man to take care of her is this in both timelines - Her reluctance to confront Lawrence about his odd behaviour means [[spoiler: he is able to get away with his affair with Bethany for five years]], and her following Ramsey around on tournaments and letting him throw money on lavish things mean she's thoroughly unprepared when Ramsey gets sick and the money disappears.
* In the novel ''Bone China'', Hester Why has two - her temper and her desperate need to have other people need her. When her employer seemed to be freezing her out by hiring a nurse to take care of her during her pregnancy to stop her miscarrying again, Hester is so incensed that she [[spoiler: brews together a tea that she knows would terminate the baby, only to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone backtrack on this when she realises what she's doing]], but by then it's too late as another maid has already delivered the tea.]]
* In Creator/SophieHannah's ''Spilling Series'', Charlie Zailer's fatal flaw is that she is an InsecureLoveInterest when it comes to Simon Waterhouse and it has ''massive'' ramifications for her in the first few novels, such as in ''Hurting Distance'', Charlie pretends she's seeing someone called Graham to [[OperationJealousy make Simon jealous]] (which doesn't work), then when she meets a man called Graham on holiday, she jumps on the chance to make it real. [[spoiler: Only, it turns out that Graham is actually a SerialRapist and when it comes out he was dating a police officer, Charlie is forced to resign from her job and she's still reeling over the scandal in both ''The Point of Rescue'' and ''The Other Half Lives''.]] Even in later books after she and Simon are married, she retains some of her insecurity, such as having the rather childish habit of both teasing Simon and trying to impress him at the same time, interrogating him about whether he finds other women attractive and acting like a ClingyJealousGirl on occasion, such as in ''Kind of Cruel'' when she complains that Simon treats Amber more like an equal than a potential suspect.
* ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror'':
** Daylen's appears to be [[HairTriggerTemper Anger]]. His response to a vagrant trying to rob and murder him? [[PayEvilUntoEvil Slicing off his hand, stabbing him in several non-lethal areas, dismembering him one limb at a time, decapitating him, and then finally pinning his head to the wall with a dagger.]] He's disturbed by how easily he slipped into this kind of extreme violence afterwards, but rationalizes that a murderer on the street was definitely an AssholeVictim.
** Ahrek's is [[spoiler:[[VengeanceFeelsEmpty Hatred]]. Even after he believed Dayless was dead, he resented that he didn't get to strike the final blow himself, he couldn't let go of his hatred, and his family was still dead, leaving him to obsess over the man he hated for years on years.]]
** Lyrah's is [[RevengeBeforeReason Vengeance]]. She fully embraces ThePowerOfHate without suffering for it [[spoiler: like Ahrek does]], but her overwhelming desire for {{Revenge}} eventually leads her to [[spoiler:risk millions of innocent people's lives for a chance to kill Daylen.]]
* In the [[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings Liveship Traders]] trilogy, Althea Vestrit's is {{Pride}}. She's a headstrong, spoiled DaddysGirl at the beginning of the book and is absolutely incensed when her father leaves the family Liveship, Vivacia, to her sister's {{Jerkass}} husband, Kyle, instead of her. This leads Althea to storm off after his funeral shortly after Vivacia quickens, missing out on a crucial window to bond with her and imbue Vivacia with her memories and personality, leading Vivacia to be an abused [[TheIngenue ingene]] for a good portion of the first book and brings a lot of suffering on her nephew, Wintrow, because Althea couldn't stand the thought of being subordinate to Kyle. It takes a long BreakTheHaughty in the first book for her to acknowledge that [[JerkassHasAPoint Kyle's point that just because she got to sail with her father as a girl, that didn't make her qualified to be Vivacia's captain and to let her have it just because of a promise would be nothing but]] {{Nepotism}} was actually right. Her pride also means she is in a perpetual SlapSlapKiss with Brashen, an old crew member of her father's, as she (not incorrectly) views his protective treatment of her as patronising and stubbornly refuses to explain herself when they argue. She also repeatedly clashes with her equally headstrong mother, Ronica, and her niece, Malta and her wilful mannerisms lead her to be ostracised in Bingtown for her refusal to conform to societal expectations.
* In Creator/FrancesHardinge's ''Literature/TheLieTree'' Faith's internalized misogyny, causes her guilt and anguish throughout the book, [[spoiler:and prevents her from deducing the true killer.]]
* ''Literature/TheMagicians'':
** In the first book, Quentin's [[AimlesslySeekingHappiness obsessive desire for happiness]], [[AllergicToRoutine dissatisfaction with routine]] and [[{{Manchild}} overall childishness]] all end up destroying his relationships, getting people seriously hurt, nearly handing the Beast an easy victory, and [[spoiler: forcing Alice to sacrifice herself to save him.]]
** In the second, [[BrokenBird Julia]]'s desire to learn magic and compensate for failing the Brakebills entrance exam ends up sending her on a downward spiral of SanitySlippage and self-destruction: she abandons perfectly legitimate college choices, falls in with a bad crowd of Hedge Wizards, [[spoiler: prostitutes herself to learn spells]], and joins up with a group of magical researchers on a very dangerous project... [[spoiler: the end result of which is the loss of her humanity.]]
* ''Literature/FanGirl'': Cath’s social anxiety and bad communication skills cause her to nearly lose her LoveInterest Levi. And despite being a gifted writer, her tendencies to hold herself back makes her come dangerously close to failing a major assignment. [[spoiler:Luckliy, she overcomes this after some advice from her teacher.]]

*** {{Pride}} and [[ItsAllAboutMe an inflated ego]]. It's not so much petty, plain-old narcissism and arrogance than it is outright full-blown megalomania, and SanityHasAdvantages. He's in the top three for the smartest and most powerful wizards in the world and he knows it, so he tends to go out of his way to add a flair of grandeur and grace to his plans while attempting to achieve his objectives in the way he thinks will be more terrifying. For example, he challenges Harry to a duel in the graveyard purely to show off to his Death Eaters, when the most pragmatic option would be to simply ''Avada Kedavra'' Harry right there and then while Harry was still tied up, wandless, and helpless. This extends to his Horcruxes- while he was smart enough to put some very nasty protections around them, his obsessive desire to collect trophies made him only create [[SoulJar Horcruxes]] out of unique and personally meaningful objects like artifacts from the Four Founders and hide them in places that held personal importance (i.e. Marvolo's ring in the Gaunt shack), making them comparatively easy to track down by people who knew his past, while Harry immediately notices that they would be ''much'' harder to find if he'd just chosen random objects and hidden them in random locations. He also has a tendency to think that other people weren't able to do things he did, such as find the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts.

*** [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Inability to understand compassion]]. Voldemort is aware about what love is in theory, but in practice he tends to miss connections between loved ones, such as not realizing that Snape was no longer trustworthy after Voldemort killed his crush Lily, [[spoiler: and that Narcissa Malfoy was loyal to her husband and son over him].

* ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'': Despite exploiting Anna and Elsa's flaws in [[Film/Frozen2013 the film]], Hans here is unaware that his own weakness is [[AmbitionIsEvil ambition]]. He becomes too desperate in getting what he wants [[DidntThinkThisThrough while ignoring the consequences]] when he takes unethical routes. [[IgnoredEpiphany At times, he knows]] [[DebateAndSwitch what he's doing is wrong and even scolds himself]], yet he impulsively goes through it. Being abused by his family for his ineptitude slowly becomes the breaking point and [[WellDoneSonGuy ultimately pushes him into desperately attempting to win his distant family's respect]]. Hans corrupts his own morals while serving as his father's gofer, committing things he once hated. As such, the time he spends prepping up on going to Arendelle is wasted because he can't contain his issues and goes to the extreme of attempting regicide. Only at the end does he have a HeelRealization, but by then, he's in damage control mode as he's being sent back to the same hellhole he wanted to escape from.