History Main / ALessonInDefeat

->''"For those with a high level of aptitude... the sooner they know the frustration of defeat, the greater their growth will be."''

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': When Eira Kaho was in elementary school, she was extraordinarily reckless due her belief that ''anything'', even catching colds or strong river currents, could be beaten with a kick. Concerned, her father scared her with a BedsheetGhost that she couldn't just kick into submission to try and teach her to fear what she should fear. The whole incident ended up working ''too'' well; as an adult, Eira has an AbsurdPhobia of ''anything'' she can't attack with kicks, be it lightning, germs, ghosts, or babies (due to being so fragile that a mere touch would break them, nevermind a kick).

* During the S-Rank Trials in ''Manga/FairyTail'', Natsu went head-to-head with Gildarts, the single strongest man in the guild short of possibly their Master. Natsu put in a good effort, but when he got a taste of Gildarts's full power he fell to his knees and gave up on the spot. [[spoiler: Gildarts passes him for this, since his intent was to determine whether Natsu had the judgement to KnowWhenToFoldEm]].

* The main characters of ''Manga/SeraphOfTheEnd'' receive one of these at the hands of their commander, Guren, when he and his squad curb stomp them in a 3-on-5 mock battle. Their lack of discipline and teamwork is made clear when their formations are easily broken. HotBlooded Yuuichiro takes the lesson seriously and asks questions to make sure they don't repeat those same mistakes.

* Yomi from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' had to teach his son/clone, Shura this lesson ''painfully''. Shura had all the power of an S class demon, however his maturity level was matched his age. In order to prevent his son from becoming too wild and headstrong like he himself was in the past, Yomi saw it fit to give Shura this lesson very early in life.

* ''ComicBook/BoosterGold:'' Rip Hunter tells Booster he needs to try and prevent the events of ''The Killing Joke'' to save Ted Kord's life. Booster tries over and over again, no matter how many times the Joker nearly kills him, until Hunter admits Booster could ''never'' succeed, and that's the point Rip's trying to make. Unfortunately this pisses Booster off tremendously, leaving him easy pickings for another time traveller offering to save Ted.
* In ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo,'' little Usagi is given a lesson by his master. He's ordered grow some carrots from some seeds. Usagi cannot make them grow at all, and considers stealing some carrots from a neighboring farmer, but his honesty gets the better of him and he reports his failure, expecting to be thrown out. His master was [[SecretTestOfCharacter testing Usagi's honesty]]; the seeds had been boiled and would never have sprouted.
* Actually subverted in ''ComicBook/PowerPack.'' Late in the series' original run the titular team of child super-heroes find themselves on the homeworld to the Kymellians, the race of aliens responsible for their super-powers. They're soon forced (against their will) to undertake a training session with the Kymellians' most elite warriors, with the intention of showing them how much further they have to come as heroes. Sure enough they're up against weapons and strategies meant to directly counter their super-powers and wound up getting subdued. Then just as the Kymellians are giving a speech about the importance of humility and capacity for greater learning, the kids take it as a chance to rally, catch their HeroicSecondWind, and kick the butts of their opponents. The Kymellians are stunned (and quite humiliated).

* Referred to in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', when ComicBook/CaptainAmerica points out that Iron Man has never had a lesson in defeat... which makes him a less effective leader. It's debateable how true this is, given Tony's character arcs in the first two Iron Man films, especially the horrific HumblePie he was force-fed when he was kidnapped by terrorists using his own weapons, but there's no way Cap could've known that.

** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' introduces the [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation no-win scenario]] of the Kobayashi Maru test as part of Star Fleet officer training. The purpose of the test is explained as part this trope and part observation of how an officer-in-training ''handles'' this trope. Kirk, being Kirk, speaks of how, when he was in the Federation Academy, he found a way to beat the test anyway, something that gained him significant praise during his cadet years. Sure enough, no matter how difficult the trials he faced were, Kirk always found a way to win, proving that the test was invalid as far as his abilities were concerned and he could always win. However, the climax sees Kirk faced with forced into a genuinely unwinnable situation, leading to [[spoiler:Spock sacrificing his life to save the crew]], with Kirk himself unable to do much. This proved that Kirk was wrong, you can't always win and save everyone; sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

* ''Literature/AgathaHAndTheClockworkPrincess'': Foretold by Agatha when she starts training with Zeetha, refusing to even try going near the warrior-princess's swords because she ''knows'' the only reason Zeetha would let her touch them is to fail miserably and learn how she wasn't ready. Then, quite suddenly, Zeetha goes berserk and storms off. It's not until hours later she finally returns and explains that back home in Skifander this is the case... and sometimes, the student doesn't survive the lesson, like her much more skilled and experienced cousin, so it's [[TraumaButton a severe sore spot for her]].
* ''Brotherhood of the Rose'', by David Morrell. Saul and Chris start playing hookie from their orphanage so they can buy stuff from the outside world and sell it to the other kids. Their ParentalSubstitute Elliot (who has been secretly grooming them as future agents) sends CIA agents to beat them up and steal their money to motivate them to take up martial arts.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The final lesson to become a new maester is to sit in a dark room with three glass candles, artifacts from Old Valyria made of twisted, sharp-edged obsidian. Many try to light them, but are only rewarded with bloody hands and wasted time. The wiser new maesters wait the night. The lesson is that, though maesters strive to understand the world, there are some mysteries that simply cannot be uncovered.

* In ''[[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Rock and a Hard Place]]'', this is part of the reason why Commander Skamene wasn't fired after all his awesome actions. That man literally beat Kobyaashi Maru ''without cheating''.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', Master Fung stated that there were a thousand lessons in defeat. He proves this point by beating the Chosen Ones in a wager by [[WeWinBecauseYouDidnt making it impossible for them to win, instead of fighting to win outright]]. Omi would use said lesson to prevent the villains from obtaining a powerful Shen Gong Wu. At the end of the episode, he challengers them to a second wager, which the heroes decline- the ''other'' lesson they've learned is "Never bet against Fung!"