History Main / ChallengeSeeker

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Kenpachi Zaraki, of the BloodKnight variety.

Compare the BloodKnight, for those who specifically like a good fight.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Roronoa Zoro, who wants to be the world's greatest swordsman, basically duels everyone holding a sword to prove that he's the best and improve himself.

** ''ComicBook/EdgeOfSpiderVerse2022'': [[Characters/BlackCatMarvelComics Felicia Hardy]] from [[AlternateUniverse Earth-194]] was a ClassyCatBurglar who stole a magic idol that gifted her with the same powers as Franchise/SpiderMan. Adopting the moniker Night-Spider, she went on a crime spree that ended when she realized that [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction stealing had stopped being fun for her because her new powers made it too easy]]. She gets so bored that she actually tries turning herself in to the police just to see whether breaking out of prison might prove to be more of a challenge. When [[Characters/MarvelComicsSpiders Aranã]] from the mainstream Marvel universe visits Earth-194 to try and recruit Night-Spider's aid in saving TheMultiverse, Felicia eagerly [[JumpedAtTheCall Jumps At The Call]] the second she hears Aranã describes their odds of winning as "completely hopeless".

* Mountaineer George Mallory supposedly responded to the question why he wants to climb the Mount Everest with this: "Because it's there".

* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'': One of the reasons that Sly and his gang steal from criminals is that they believe that stealing from ordinary people is boring and the true challenge comes from beating criminals at their own game.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Roronoa Zoro, who wants to be [[CatchPhrase the world's greatest swordsman]], basically duels everyone holding a sword to prove that he's the best and improve himself.

-->-- '''Zaroff''', ''Literature/TheMostDangerousGame''

Some talented characters like to use their skills to drift through life [[BrilliantButLazy as effortlessly]] [[ProfessionalSlacker as possible]]. WellThisIsNotThatTrope. It's the exact opposite.

* ''Franchise/CarmenSandiego'': Carmen is this to the core. She originally worked to catch criminals, but eventually decided that [[FaceHeelTurn becoming one herself]] would be more challenging, and thus the [[ImpossibleTheft world's]] [[MonumentalTheft greatest]] [[IntangibleTheft thief]] was born.

* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'': Minamoto no Hiromasa is this in spades. When he's first introduced, he [[EstablishingCharacterMoment instantly challenges the protagonist to a duel]] thinking him a WorthyOpponent ''before he even knows his name''. Since then, Hiromasa has always displayed a desire to fight powerful enemies, at one point even severely injuring himself.

Some talented characters like to use their skills to drift through life [[BrilliantButLazy as effortlessly]] [[ProfessionalSlacker as possible]]. WellThisIsNotThatTrope, but the exact opposite.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': A lot of the stronger characters. Cynthia in particular is now at the point where she automatically identifies determined-looking 10-year-olds as godly powerful, which for her is reason enough to single them out for a challenge.

* In Creator/MarvelComics, the Champion of the Universe goes around to various worlds looking for a good boxing match. His first defeat ever comes from [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Thing]], who refuses to stay down. He can ''beat'' the Thing but he can't ''defeat'' him, so the Champion concedes.
-->'''The Champion:''' No, my friend... I could never beat you! I know that now! I could crush your bones and break your body... but I would never conquer your spirit!
* [[http://marvel.com/universe/Grandmaster The Grandmaster]] from Marvel:
-->The Grandmaster has spent his extraordinary long life in pursuit of amusement through the playing of games. He has traveled throughout the known universe studying many civilizations' forms of games and play to the point of mastering them. He then began to devise his own types of tournaments and contests, challenging various opponents to games of skill and chance for high stakes.

* In the ''Series/Supergirl2015'' AU fic “[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14805744/ All will be well, as long as you stay by my side]]", Alex acknowledges that while she doesn’t like challenging relationships, with her recent dates all being disasters because they just weren’t compatible, she enjoys a challenging work environment, willing to move to a new country to follow Kara’s new relationship because she’s already overcome the challenges of her current work as a detective and is interested at the idea of a fresh start.
* Thunder Flicker from ''Fanfic/AceCombatTheEquestrianWar'' always likes a good challenge, especially when he competes with Quick Chaser.

* ''Franchise/LeagueOfLegends'':
** Jax, a master warrior who's been around for centuries, wants to meet and challenge the greatest warriors in Runeterra, hoping to find those worthy of defending the world from the terrors of the Void.
** The unyielding optimist Nilah travels the world in search of the biggest and baddest adversaries to fight, hoping that her triumphs will become the stuff of legends in the future.

* ''Manga/{{Mars}}'': When it comes to motorbike racing, there is no challenge too hard for Rei to try to take on, even if it comes at the expense of his body. In both of the races depicted it shows Rei pushing himself and his bike to their limits in order to beat his competitors and to possibly race a track record. He even spins out of control, flying off his bike, and when people rush over to see if he's okay, he's moaning about how close he was to beating the track record.

TruthInTelevision - the ChallengeGamer is this in RealLife applied to video games. Many, [[StopHavingFunGuy though not all]], fans of competitive activities like sports are like this too. It can be fun to train and practice and challenge like minded people as you improve your skills.

* ''Manga/{{Mars}}'': When it comes to motorbike racing, there is no challenge too hard for Rei to try to take on, even if it comes at the expense of his body. In both of the races depicted it shows Rei pushing himself and his bike to their limits in order to beat his competitors and to possibly race a track record. He even spins out of control, flying off his bike, and when people rush over to see if he's ok, he's moaning about how close he was to beating the track record.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': A lot of the stronger characters. Cynthia in particular is now at the point where she automatically identifies determined-looking ten-year-olds as godly powerful, which for her is reason enough to single them out for a challenge.

* The Beast in ''Film/KungFuHustle'' voluntarily committed himself to an insane asylum when he believed [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction there were no worthy challengers remaining]], coming out of retirement when recruited by the Axe Gang because they promised his foes were formidable.

* Literature/SherlockHolmes, in all his various forms. Holmes ''despises'' being idle, resulting in all manner of quirky behaviors like indoor pistol practice, conducting arcane experiments, or just getting wasted on whatever substance he can find (in the [[Film/SherlockHolmes2009 Guy Ritchie movie]] from 2009, Watson catches Holmes ingesting ''embalming fluid''). Furthermore Holmes often rejects cases that don't tease his intellect enough and, conversely, accepts cases that do purely for the sport of it, often turning down material or monetary compensations in the process. Some adaptations suggest this nature is due to his PowerIncontinence that often manifests itself as hyper-sensitivity to his surroundings (his infamous SherlockScan can never be shut off, causing him to be constantly distracted by the world around him unless he can focus himself on a mystery and put his ability to notice and derive meaning from the mundane towards a goal).

* In ''Series/{{House}}'', the titular Dr. House is a brilliant doctor who finds standard clinic duty to be mind-numbingly boring, and prefers to eschew it in favor of the Patient of the Week that presents an interesting diagnostic puzzle to solve.

%%* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames'': Link, judging by his first lines in the Faces of Evil.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': The various playable characters have their reasons for being Vault Hunters, a common one being to seek out a worthwhile challenge:
** Amara left her planet primarily because her crimefighting exploits meant that no bad guys would fight her and decided that [[DeathWorld Pandora]] was bound to have something that wouldn't run from her.
** ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'': [=Zer0=] seeks a challenge above all else, with his personal ECHO entry telling one of his targets to make him work for it. He becomes a Vault Hunter because he sees it as the ultimate challenge. Unfortunately, he sometimes takes this a bit too far as he'll assume that the "challenge" of shutting up an idiot means that he can chop someone's head off. Axton and Salvador have similar motivations, though they also really want the fame and loot (respectively).
---> "This is intriguing. / The Vault, my masterpiece? / Challenge accepted."
* ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable'': Levi the Slasher in ''The Gears of Destiny''. Being the [[TheBigGuy Material of Power]], she loves nothing more than having strong enemies to test her mettle against. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:we see her drooling at the chance of going to Eltria after she learns that it's essentially a DeathWorld filled with powerful monsters to fight and mysterious dungeons to explore. She then proceeds to unintentionally save a lot of villages in Eltria, as she spends her time stopping monstrous threats for her own enjoyment]].
* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'': One of the reasons that Sly and his gang steal from criminals is that they believe that stealing from ordinary people is boring and the true challenge comes from beating criminals at their own game.
* ''Franchise/CarmenSandiego'': Carmen is this to the core. She originally worked to catch criminals, but eventually decided that [[FaceHeelTurn becoming one herself]] would be more challenging, and thus the [[ImpossibleTheft world's]] [[MonumentalTheft greatest]] [[IntangibleTheft thief]] was born.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''. Part of the reason he fights [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] is that he's always seeking thrills and challenges. When asked in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' why [[ItMakesSenseInContext he and his past self]] don't team up and work together to save the day, he replies that it would make things too easy.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'': Scrooge [=McDuck=], and possibly even moreso in the [[WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017 reboot]], who earned his fortune being "Smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies", is always up for a bit of globe-trotting adventure. Don't let the big mansion and bin full of money fool you. Scrooge is never happier than when he's getting his hands dirty on his latest death-defying adventure.
* ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'': {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed in "Aim Low"; Eggman falls into a depression after losing to Sonic and friends too many times, and Sonic starts interfering with his friends' hobbies because he has nothing to do with all the free time he's built up.