History Main / ALessonInDefeat

* Doctor Who: ''DeathComesToTime'' includes a mission on a planet called Anima Persis that all Time Lords have to go through in their training, where they are meant to fail; in order to teach them what failure feels like so they know that even they are not infallible and the need to avoid the temptation to use their powers. It's a sort of humbling excercise. In the Doctor's words "You take that memory with you wherever you go" [[/folder]]

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* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The final lesson to become a new maester is to sit in a dark room with a tall, sharp candlestick. Many try to reach the wick, 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 the ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' episode "The Tale of the Misfortune Cookie'', David Lee is pursued by a warrior wearing dark armor after entering an AlternateUniverse. After David tells the warrior that he just wants his old life back, the warrior slinks down in defeat telling David that his better half has won. When David removes the warrior's helmet, [[spoiler: he discovers ''his own face'' underneath]].

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

''[[Literature/Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Rock and a Hard Place]]''
This is Part of reason why commander Skamene wasnt fired after all his Crazy-Awesome Actions. That man literally beated Kobyaashi Maru WITHOUT CHEATING.

* Many of his fellow students in EndersGame ''think'' this is being invoked a couple times against Ender himself by the teachers at Battle School and try to preemptively offer him consolation. Its never quiet the case, and Ender always wins anyway much to his friends' amusement ("They had to cheat to beat you and they still LOST!")

* After he becomes important to the workings of the city, and after repeatedly failing to kill him, Sam Vimes of the ''Literature/Discworld'' series, the Assassin's Guild refuses to take contracts on him. They ''do'', however, still send overconfident students on missions to the house he's had CrazyPrepared with anti-assassin traps to see if they can get him in their sights.

* Yomi from 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.

** During ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' Kirk speaks of how when he was in the Federation Academy he found a way to beat the no-win scenario, 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. In fact the first time that Kirk can't find a way to win is when [[spoiler: Spock is forced to sacrifice his life to save the crew]] as there was nothing he could do. This proved that Kirk was wrong, you can't always win and save everyone some times sacrifices have to be made.

* In ''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.

* In ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Yoda sends Luke into the cave to experience the dark side of the Force. Luke declares that he is not afraid, and Yoda responds, "You will be."

* ''ASongOfIceAndFire'': The final lesson to become a new maester is to sit in a dark room with a tall, sharp candlestick. Many try to reach the wick, 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.

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* The Kobayashi Maru test from ''StarTrek'' is ''the'' UnwinnableTrainingSimulation, designed to test how the students cope with a no-win situation.
** During Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Kirk speaks of how when he was in the Federation Academy he found a way to beat the no-win scenario, 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. In fact the first time that Kirk can't find a way to win is when [[spoiler: Spock is forced to sacrifice his life to save the crew]] as there was nothing he could do. This proved that Kirk was wrong, you can't always win and save everyone some times sacrifices have to be made.

* The Kobayashi Maru test from ''StarTrek'' is ''the'' UnwinnableTrainingSimulation, designed to test how the students cope with a no-win situation.

* This is the primary reason for Master Roshi's assuming his "Jackie Chun" SecretIdentity in the Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts Tournaments in ''DragonBall.'' He wanted to prevent Goku and Kuririn from getting big heads by progressing too far too quickly.
* Toraji, the Kendo Club instructor in ''BambooBlade'' sought this for Tamaki. He wanted her to discover a rival among her peers who could equal her in order to make her stronger in the long term.
* The spirit if not the specifics can be seen in ''OnePiece'' when Dracule Mihawk defeats Zoro. Zoro definitely had the "big fish in a little pond" attitude when they met, though he was enough of a determinator to impress Mihawk. So rather than kill him, Mihawk defeated him thoroughly and encouraged him to see more of the world. Zoro's response to his crushing defeat was a tearful vow to never lose again.

* During the S-Rank Trials in ''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]].

* During the S-Rank Trials in ''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. Gildarts passes him for this, since his intent was to determine whether Natsu had the judgement to KnowWhenToFoldEm.