History Main / ALessonInDefeat

* ''Manga/KenganAshura'': Takeru Kiozan is a sumo wrestler who disdains modern Sumo in favor of a more ancient, brutal form called "Ancient Sumo". After Kiozan's match with Jun Sekibayashi ends with Kiozan's loss, his boss's secretary Sakura realizes that Kiozan never stood a chance in the Annihilation Tournament. Indeed, it's revealed that Kiozan was entered on his brothers' prompting, in the hopes that seeing his "Primal Sumo" soundly defeated would humble him and make him more amenable to proper Sumo. Kiozan's boss, Magatani, agreed because he's taken care of the three brothers since they were children.

** [[spoiler: This lesson is broken all to hell when Archmaester Marwyn is actually able to light the glass candles.]]

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* 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]].

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* 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.

A more benign version of this can sometimes occur if the teacher is doing it less as a preventative or punitive measure, and more because they believe a legitimate defeat will be good for them in the long run. As the saying goes, you learn more in defeat than from success. It could also be done to encourage the student to [[GracefulLoser accept the possibility of losing more easily than he might have otherwise]]. Or, depending on the instructor, less easily.

A more benign version of this can sometimes occur if the teacher is doing it less as a preventative or punitive measure, and more because they believe a legitimate defeat will be good for them in the long run. As the saying goes, you learn more in defeat than from success. It could also be done to encourage the student to accept the possibility of losing more easily than he might have otherwise. Or, depending on the instructor, less easily.

* ''Brotherhood of the Rose'', by David Morrell. While they were children, Saul and Chris, started playing hookie from their orphanage so they can buy stuff from the outside world and sell it to the other kids. 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.

* 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.

* 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''.

TheMentor has a student with a great deal of natural talent. Unfortunately, that's a problem because due to that talent said student has become, or shows signs of becoming, an ArrogantKungFuGuy or InsufferableGenius. Or it may just be that the student is failing to achieve their full potential because they have become [[BrilliantButLazy too self-satisfied]] to put any real work into improving.

* In ''Film/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." [[spoiler: When Luke enters the cave, he gets a vision where he confronts Darth Vader. After he rends Vader's head from his shoulders, the mask explodes, and Luke sees ''his own face'' underneath. The lesson to learn from this is that you are your own worst enemy.]]

Compare UnwinnableTrainingSimulation, which is often done with this trope in mind. The difference is that the Simulation is done in controlled circumstances while a Lesson in Defeat can be done in a real-life scenario.

TheMentor has a student with a great deal of natural talent. Unfortunately, that's a problem because due to that talent said student has become, or shows signs of becoming, an ArrogantKungFuGuy or InsufferableGenius.

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* ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Exile's Honor]]'': Herald-Weaponsmaster Dethor is worried about several of his students because he ''can't'' give them this lesson due to age and arthritis. The Trainees in question got so many lessons in court fencing that they'd be toast the first time they ever came up against someone who wanted to kill them instead of score points against them. Once he recruits [[BadAss Alberich]] as Weaponsmaster Second, delivering these lessons becomes Alberich's primary duty.

* ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. Kirk speaks of how, when he was in the Federation Academy, he found a way to beat the [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation no-win scenario]] of the Kobayashi Maru test, 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 one episode of ''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 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- They've learned they should "Never bet against Fung!"

* Yuuma Kousaka in ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry'' receives one of these at the hands of Tatsuya Yuuki. He challenges Yuuma to a fight, giving Yuuma his own gunpla, and using Yuuma's. The result is a CurbStompBattle in which Yuuma realizes that the problem was never his gunpla, nor his own abilities, but his mentality during combat that caused was limiting him.

-->--'''Koro-sensei''', ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom''

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* Referred to in ''Film/TheAvengers,'' when CaptainAmerica points out that Iron Man has never had a lesson in defeat... which makes him a less effective leader.

* In ''Film/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."

* ''Doctor Who'': ''WebAnimation/DeathComesToTime'' includes a mission on a planet called [[spoiler: 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"

* Doctor Who: ''DeathComesToTime'' includes a mission on a planet called [[spoiler: 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"

* Doctor Who: ''DeathComesToTime'' includes a mission on a planet called [[spoiler 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"

* 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"