History Main / HeartTrauma

* A rare positive example in ''Literature/VitaNuova''; a dream where Beatrice eats [[CardiovascularLove the poet's heart marks the beginning of his love for her]] and his quest to capture her beauty in any of the dozens of poems in the collection.

When a character has something physically happen to their heart (often in a way that generally would be impossible without magic being involved), it often affects their personality in drastic ways. Either they lose all of their emotions, or their personality changes--for the worse. Seen most often in fantasy works, particularly those with a symbolic or FairyTale theme.

* The protagonist Creator/WilhelmHauff's "The Cold Heart" foolishly trades his heart for a stone and immense wealth -- just as many other people are shown to have already done, including some he knows. It affects his character just as one might expect.

->''"Someday I'll meet someone''\\

''Whose heart joins with mine''\\
''Aortas and arteries all intertwined''
->''They'll beat so much stronger''
->''Than they could apart''
->''Eight chambers of muscle to hustle''
->''The love in our heart"''
-->-- '''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}'''

* Tsubaki Kakyouin from ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'' also got a heart transplant due to hers being too weak. [[spoiler: It belonged to her best friend Eileen, the local InnocentFlowerGirl, who was kidnapped and killed for it. Tsubaki came to learn about it and was so emotionally crushed... that she developed a SplitPersonality that called herself "Eileen" and started killing the people involved in Eileen's murder.]]

* In ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' Howl is [[spoiler:''literally'' heartless because of a DealWithTheDevil]]. He gets better eventually.

* In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', [[spoiler: Prince Siegfried]] uses a "forbidden spell" to shatter his heart, which is then used to seal away the Raven (who is the BigBad of his fairytale). Without it, he's an ExtremeDoormat who does whatever anyone suggests and is unable to express emotions or opinions. The MagicalGirl named in the title has the task to restore his heart, one piece at a time.
** In the second season [[spoiler:the Prince's heart is tainted by the Raven's blood, which causes him to [[FaceHeelTurn become evil]] and serve the Raven. Toward the end of the season he [[TransformationTrauma turns into a crow]] and is only saved from giving his life to the Raven by ThePowerOfLove coming from the DarkMagicalGirl, who has to pull out an HeroicSacrifice to make herself heard.]]
*** And before that, [[spoiler: the DarkMagicalGirl ''almost'' had her own heart stolen and eaten by the Raven. She barely escapes.]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* Tony Stark becomes ''ComicBook/IronMan'' after sustaining a nearly fatal chest wound. Tony implants himself with a powerful reactor that prevents deadly shrapnel from reaching his heart; this very reactor later powers his suit. To be fair, the radical change in his outlook on life is primarily due to his newly gained first-hand knowledge of the horrors of war, as opposed to the changes in his cardiovascular system.
* The Creator/MarvelComics villain Master Pandemonium has a star-shaped hole in his chest where his heart (and supposedly his [[OurSoulsAreDifferent soul]]) used to be, after he makes a life-saving DealWithTheDevil. Turns out the soul fragments he's been reclaiming [[EvilPlan aren't actually his, however]].
* In ''ComicBook/NightmaresAndFairyTales'', one chapter centers around a retelling of the fairy tale of Snow White. In it [[spoiler:the Queen has Snow White's heart cut out, then she cuts out her own heart and puts Snow's in her chest]]. This is done because she is told that outer beauty is reflected by the heart. While it does work and she becomes beautiful, it leaves poor Snow White [[spoiler:with no heart, wandering aimlessly through the forest. She temporarily replaces her heart with an apple and later hunts down the Queen, rips out her own heart, and puts it back, leaving Snow healthy and beautiful and the Queen heartless, weak, and hideous.]]
* ''Comicbook/XMen'' doesn't usually [[ArtisticLicenseBiology fail biology forever]] to quite ''this'' extreme, but The Stepford Cuckoos were forced to keep their hearts in diamond form all the time to contain the Phoenix fragment within them, resulting in loss of emotions (instead of the more probable effect of loss of ''life.'')

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''FanFic/SaviorOfDemons'' in the NightmareSequence visions Frieza has during his {{FeverDream}}s. WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic

* In ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'', [[spoiler: Theodora]] eats an apple that withers the heart in her chest, leaving nothing but wickedness.

* In Creator/WilhelmHauff's "The Cold Heart", the protagonist foolishly trades his heart for a stone and immense wealth -- just as many other people are shown to have already done, including some he knows. It affects his character just as one might expect.

%%** The Grinch example was pastiched on WesternAnimation/SouthPark. "And what happened next? Well, in South Park, they say Johnny Cochrane's small heart grew three sizes that day!"

* In Creator/HansChristianAndersen's FairyTale "Literature/TheSnowQueen", a boy named Kai has a piece of a mirror that shows a negative view of the world pierce his heart, which causes him to become cold and distant towards his childhood friend Gerda, before he's taken away by the Snow Queen. Gerda goes on a journey to find him and eventually rescues Kai, again through ThePowerOfLove. (It's possible the second-season Princess Tutu example was a reference to this fairytale.)
* One of ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'', a supplemental book to the ''Harry Potter'' series, is "The Warlock's Hairy Heart", where the title warlock removes his own heart in order not to fall prey to the "foolishness" of love, making him aloof and cold. Meanwhile, his heart has not only grown dark hair from being unused [[spoiler: but has become animalistic and possessive. When the Warlock's fiancé convinces him to put it back in place, the Warlock becomes mad and cuts out her heart]].
* A rare positive example in [[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante]]'s ''Literature/VitaNuova''; a dream where Beatrice eats [[CardiovascularLove the poet's heart marks the beginning of his love for her]] and his quest to capture her beauty in any of the dozens of poems in the collection.
* The Tin Woodman from ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' is entirely convinced he falls under this trope. He doesn't -- in fact, he at least borders on qualifying as an AllLovingHero, endeavoring to be kind to all living things so that he doesn't do anything horrible without a heart to guide him.
** Played straight in ''Literature/TheScarecrowOfOz'' when Princess Gloria's heart is frozen. This doesn't cause her physical harm, but it does render her [[LackOfEmpathy unable to care about anyone]] and seems to cut off her ability to feel emotions entirely.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* An episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' concerned a vampire that removed his heart surgically so that Angel would be unable to stake him. His heart being removed was symbolic of the fact that Angel was responsible for the death of his lover. His final comment, when he eventually runs out of steam, at least left an impression, since it was directed at Angel, and his well-known curse never to know the greatest joy. "I lived. You just existed."
* Captain Picard of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' fame had a [[ItsAWonderfulPlot Wonderful Plot]] episode about the incident that resulted in his having to have his original heart replaced with a mechanical one. The episode had Q give Picard the chance to go back to his youth and prevent the fight where he was stabbed through the heart. He avoids the fight and his future is changed. Instead of being Captain, he is just a lowly science officer who never takes any risks, always plays it safe, and leads a boring, mundane life. Realizing that it was his near-death experience that made him appreciate life and taught him to live life to the fullest even if means taking risks, he begs Q to take him back to the fight in his youth again. This time, he goes through with the fight, and as he is laying on the ground with a knife through his heart, he realizes this event is what makes him the man that he is.

* A possible example in the musical of ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'': Elphaba's sister Nessarose is in love with a Munchkin named Boq, who in turn is in love with Glinda. In her despair, Nessarose steals the Grimmorie (a book of extremely powerful, irreversible, arcane magic) from Elphaba and tries to cast a spell that will make Boq's heart belong to her. [[spoiler: It fails: she ends up destroying his heart. The only thing Elphaba can do to save Boq is to turn him into a tin golem, so that he doesn't need a heart.]]

* In the Polish fantasy-steampunk RPG ''[[TabletopGame/WolsungSteamPulpFantasy Wolsung]]'', the dwarves value logic over emotions and often implant {{magitek}} prosthetics into their bodies. If they overdo with the implants, they turn into ''uhrwerk'' - "clockwork dwarves", completely and irreversibly [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul losing their emotions and, to a slightly lesser extent, morality]]. Heart replacement is the most common reason for becoming ''uhrwerk''.

* Although this trope is different from TheHeartless, the Nobodies from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' are still a good example of this trope. They are the shell left behind when a Heartless steals a person's heart. Apparently, losing your heart gives you [[SuperpoweredEvilSide superpowers]] and a taste for black robes. [[TinMan They say they can feel no emotion, although there's some debate in the fandom about whether or not that's true.]] At the very least, they [[LackOfEmpathy lack empathy]].
** To be even more specific: When one becomes a Nobody, their body changes. The human Nobodies in the Organization are the cream of the crop, people who had such a strong will to live when they lost their heart that their "shell" barely changed appearance, so they look pretty similar to their old selves. Everyone else with a weaker heart deforms into a clothing-like, [[UncannyValley vaguely humanoid]] lesser Nobody.
** It's revealed in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance 3D]]'' that [[spoiler:unlike most examples, Nobodies can ''regain'' their hearts, or at least develop new ones to fill the void through interaction with other people. Xemnas kept this part secret in order to manipulate the rest of the Organization in a {{Grand Theft|Me}} MesACrowd scheme]].
* The Shadow Pokémon in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Colosseum]]'' and ''XD Gale of Darkness'' have their hearts sealed off by the bad guys, which prevents them from leveling up, gives them different moves and causes them to go into a periodic self-injurious state similar to Confusion. Forming an emotional bond with the Pokemon is required (but not sufficient) to cure them.

* Hisao Nakai, the protagonist of the VN ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', finds out in the very first scene (where he gets a life-threatening heart attack in the middle of being confessed to by his crush, no less) that he suffers from chronic arrhythmia. This results in him being transferred to a school that specializes in accommodating students with various physical disabilities, where the game itself is set. The first Act revolves in large around Hisao's coming to terms with his now suddenly-frighteningly-tangible mortality (represented by his defective heart) and the fact that he must now start thinking of himself as "disabled" and completely change his lifestyle (no more playing soccer, watching his diet, having to take all his medicines every day, etc.), and each of the game's routes continues his internal conflict regarding this in a different fashion (because in each route his personality is slightly changed by falling in love with a very different sort of girl - although in all cases he does eventually learn to accept his short life expectancy one way or another, except for the extremely short "Bad Ending" route, which is achieved by constantly making choices implying Hisao cannot deal with his problem and ends up becoming a lonely, depressed man). Hearts are a constant theme in the game, especially where Hisao is concerned, and in fact, the game's very logo is that of a heart with a band-aid on it.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', Gordon suffers from a weak heart due to his repeated heart transplants, resulting in him having a dangerous history of heart attacks. He has a [[AnimalCompanion helper dog]], Hubris, who warns him when his heart acts up so he can get to a doctor in time, but he becomes aware that he's living on borrowed time.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Whither}}'', [[spoiler: Nora stole Frost's heart, and it's implied that she actually seduced him to gain an opportunity]]. This is what set the plot in motion, since his attempts to regain said heart [[spoiler: and take his revenge]] are the very reason for Emelind being who she became. And the heart was needed for [[spoiler: securing Finn's world]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' had an episode where Aladdin's head is magically separated from his body. The head and the body both survive as independent beings, but without the influence of his heart, Aladdin's head becomes logical and emotionless. Meanwhile, his body without the head's influence becomes headstrong and impulsive. And clumsy.
* Mildly subverted, in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/SilverHawks'' Steelwill's and Steelheart's hearts fail while they're being cyborgized and are replaced with mechanical ones. The doctor then points out the appropriateness of their names. However, they seem unaffected (possibly the only bit of good science in the series).
* Hefty in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' goes through some heart trouble when a flea carrying Gargamel's hate juice bites him and causes his heart tattoo to change into a yellow X, also changing Hefty into a hateful abusive Smurf. Near the end of the story, when Hefty sees that Papa Smurf is being threatened by Gargamel, his true-natured self and his heart tattoo return just in time for Hefty to rescue Papa Smurf.

* ''VideoGame/Deltarune'' The soul is a stand in for the human heart. Kris has three distinct personalities, the one seen for most of the game when the player controls their soul, the one seen when they attempt to remove it, and the one mentioned from the past, when the player had no control over the soul.

* The Shadow Pokémon in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Colosseum]]'' and ''XD Gale of Darkness'' have their hearts sealed off by the bad guys, which prevents them from leveling up, gives them different moves and causes them to go into a periodic self-injurious state similar to Confusion. Forming an emotional bond with the Pokemon is required (but not sufficient) to cure them.

** It's revealed in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance 3D]]'' that [[spoiler:unlike most examples, Nobodies can ''regain'' their hearts, or at least develop new ones to fill the void through interaction with other people. Xemnas kept this part secret in order to manipulate the rest of the Organization in a {{Grand Theft|Me}} MesACrowd scheme.]]
* ""VideoGame/Deltarune"" The soul is a stand in for the human heart. Kris has three distinct personalities, the one seen for most of the game when the player controls their soul, the one seen when they attempt to remove it, and the one mentioned from the past, when the player had no control over the soul.

Compare SoulJar, where the thing done to the heart affects their vulnerability, and LiteralChangeOfHeart, which involves replacing a missing or damaged heart. Not to be confused with AttackOnTheHeart, which is focused on the actual ''physical'' damage on the heart.

* Discussed in the ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' manga. Shougo insists that the heart is just a muscle. Everything about humanity, whether good, bad or indifferent, comes from the brain.

* Nagare Hisui, the Green King in ''Anime/{{K}}'', has a hole where his heart should be, filled with crackling green sparks of power. This happened in the Kagutsu Crater incident, when a King's Sword of Damocles fell and caused a massive disaster. Hisui died in that, but the power of the Slates brought him back to life by Awakening him as the Green King.

* In ''Manga/TowaKamoShirenai'', Kosumo has a very weak heart, which she describes as "a defective product". She has a near fatal seizure and must get a transplant... and it happens. Then, the heart that was given to her turned out to belong to a {{Miko}} and MagicalGirlWarrior...

* Tony Stark becomes ''ComicBook/IronMan'' after sustaining a nearly fatal chest wound. Tony implants himself with a powerful reactor which prevents deadly shrapnel from reaching his heart; this very reactor later powers his suit. To be fair, the radical change in his outlook on life is primarily due to his newly gained first-hand knowledge of the horrors of war, as opposed to the changes in his cardiovascular system.

* In ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'', future king Einon is given a piece of the heart of a dragon to save his life. While he'd actually been a bit of a bastard from the start, the invincibility which sharing Draco's life grants him leaves Einon free to act up a ''lot'' more than he might've dared, had he remained an ordinary mortal.

** Played straight in ''Literature/TheScarecrowOfOz'' when Princess Gloria's heart is frozen. This doesn't cause her physical harm, but it does render her [[LackOfEmpathy unable to care about anyone]], and seems to cut off her ability to feel emotions entirely.

* A possible example in the musical of ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'': Elphaba's sister Nessarose is in love with a Munchkin named Boq, who in turn is in love with Glinda. In her despair, Nessarose steals the Grimmorie (a book of extremely powerful, irreversible, arcane magic) from Elphaba and tries to cast a spell that will make Boq's heart belong to her. [[spoiler: It fails: she ends up destroying his heart. The only thing Elphaba can do to save Boq is turn him into a tin golem, so that he doesn't need a heart.]]

* Hisao Nakai, the protagonist of the VN ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', finds out in the very first scene (where he gets a life-threatening heart attack in the middle of being confessed to by his crush, no less) that he suffers from chronic arrhythmia. This results in him being transferred into a school that specializes in accommodating students with various physical disabilities, where the game itself is set. The first Act revolves in large around Hisao's coming to terms with his now suddenly-frighteningly-tangible mortality (represented by his defective heart) and the fact that he must now start thinking of himself as "disabled" and completely change his lifestyle (no more playing soccer, watching his diet, having to take all his medicines every day, etc.), and each of the game's routes continues his internal conflict regarding this in a different fashion (because in each route his personality is slightly changed by falling in love with a very different sort of girl - although in all cases he does eventually learn to accept his short life expectancy one way or another, except for the extremely short "Bad Ending" route, which is achieved by constantly making choices implying Hisao cannot deal with his problem and ends up becoming a lonely, depressed man). Hearts are a constant theme in the game, especially where Hisao is concerned, and in fact, the game's very logo is that of a heart with a band-aid on it.

* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' had an episode where Aladdin's head is magically separated from his body. The head and the body both survive as independent beings, but without the influence of his heart Aladdin's head becomes logical and emotionless. Meanwhile, his body without the head's influence becomes headstrong and impulsive. And clumsy.
* Mildly subverted, in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/SilverHawks'' Steelwill's and Steelheart's hearts fail while they're being cyborgized and are replaced with mechanical ones. The doctor then points the appropriateness of their names. However they seem unaffected (possibly the only bit of good science in the series).
* Hefty in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' goes through some heart trouble when a flea carrying Gargamel's hate juice bites him and causes his heart tattoo to change into a yellow X, also changing Hefty into a hateful abusive Smurf. Near the end of the story, when Hefty sees that Papa Smurf is being threatened by Gargamel, his true natured self and his heart tattoo return just in time for Hefty to rescue Papa Smurf.

* In ''Literature/LightningDust'', Klaus Melfton normally has a weak heartbeat. However, after the [[FreakLabAccident]] that turned him into Lightning Dust, his heart beats incredibly fast. This effectively cured his heart problems and Klaus became cocky and feels invincible.

* One of ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'', a supplemental book to the ''Harry Potter'' series, is "The Warlock's Hairy Heart", where the title warlock removes his own heart in order not to fall prey to the "foolishness" of love, making him aloof and cold. Meanwhile, his heart has not only grown dark hair from being unused [[spoiler: but has become animalistic and possesive. When the Warlock's fiance convinces him to put it back in place, the Warlock becomes mad and cuts out her heart]].

* In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', [[spoiler: Prince Siegfried]] uses a "forbidden spell" to shatter his heart, which is then used to seal away the Raven (who is the BigBad of his fairytale). Without it, he's an ExtremeDoormat who does whatever anyone suggests and is unable to express emotions or opinions. The MagicalGirl named in the title has the task to restore his heart, one piece at a time.
** In the second season [[spoiler:the Prince's heart is tainted by the Raven's blood, which causes him to [[FaceHeelTurn become evil]] and serve the Raven. Toward the end of the season he [[TransformationTrauma turns into a crow]] and is only saved from giving his life to the Raven by ThePowerOfLove coming from the DarkMagicalGirl, who has to pull out an HeroicSacrifice to make herself heard.]]
*** And before that, [[spoiler: the DarkMagicalGirl ''almost'' had her own heart stolen and eaten by the Raven. She barely escapes.]]

* In ''Manga/TowaKamoShirenai'', Kosumo has a very weak heart, which she describes as "a defective product". She has a near fatal seizure and must get a transplant... and it happens. Then, the heart that was given to her turned out to belong to a {{Miko}} and MagicalGirlWarrior...

* Discussed in the ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' manga. Shougo insists that the heart is just a muscle. Everything about humanity, whether good, bad or indifferent, comes from the brain.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[spoiler:Tobi, who is revealed to be ''Obito'', apparently causes Kakashi to pierce him through the chest, to show him that he no longer has a heart. He claims to have removed it to stop feeling the pain caused by losing [[TheLostLenore Rin]], and he plans to fill the hole left behind with a LotusEaterMachine where he can [[IRejectYourReality pretend Rin is still alive]]. It turns out to be an illusion, but Kakashi fittingly creates a real hole in his chest]].

* In ''Nightmares & Fairy Tales'', one chapter centers around a retelling of the fairy tale of Snow White. In it [[spoiler:the Queen has Snow White's heart cut out, then she cuts out her own heart and puts Snow's in her chest]]. This is done because she is told that outer beauty is reflected by the heart. While it does work and she becomes beautiful, it leaves poor Snow White [[spoiler:with no heart, wandering aimlessly through the forest. She temporarily replaces her heart with an apple and later hunts down the Queen, rips out her own heart, and puts it back, leaving Snow healthy and beautiful and the Queen heartless, weak, and hideous.]]

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''FanFic/SaviorOfDemons'' in the NightmareSequence visions Frieza has during his {{FeverDream}}s. WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic

* In ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'', future king Einon is given a piece of the heart of a dragon to save his life. While he'd actually been a bit of a bastard from the start, the invincibility which sharing Draco's life grants him leaves Einon free to act up a ''lot'' more than he might've dared, had he remained an ordinary mortal.

* ''Prince Trevor Amongst the Elephants'' has the titular character's heart taken for offending [[TheHecateSisters The Three Graces]].

* Leonardo de Montreal of ''TabletopGame/ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine'' is heartless in the sense that he rejected friendship in exchange for the power to protect Town. He's also heartless in the sense that he physically tore it from his chest and used it to power the Abhorrent Sun-Sustaining Superconductor, reigniting the Sun and saving everyone. Now, as proven by Billy Sovereign, he can have a railway spike pushed through his chest and find it more annoying than lethal.

* The Shadow Pokémon in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Colosseum]]'' and ''XD Gale of Darkness'' have their hearts sealed off by the bad guys, which prevents them from leveling up, gives them different moves and causes them to go into a periodic self-injurious state similar to Confusion. Forming an emotional bond with the Pokemon is required (but not sufficient) to cure them.
* Hisao Nakai, the protagonist of the VN ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', finds out in the very first scene (where he gets a life-threatening heart attack in the middle of being confessed to by his crush, no less) that he suffers from chronic arrhythmia. This results in him being transferred into a school that specializes in accommodating students with various physical disabilities, where the game itself is set. The first Act revolves in large around Hisao's coming to terms with his now suddenly-frighteningly-tangible mortality (represented by his defective heart) and the fact that he must now start thinking of himself as "disabled" and completely change his lifestyle (no more playing soccer, watching his diet, having to take all his medicines every day, etc.), and each of the game's routes continues his internal conflict regarding this in a different fashion (because in each route his personality is slightly changed by falling in love with a very different sort of girl - although in all cases he does eventually learn to accept his short life expectancy one way or another, except for the extremely short "Bad Ending" route, which is achieved by constantly making choices implying Hisao cannot deal with his problem and ends up becoming a lonely, depressed man). Hearts are a constant theme in the game, especially where Hisao is concerned, and in fact, the game's very logo is that of a heart with a band-aid on it.

Compare SoulJar, where the thing done to the heart affects their vulnerability, and LiteralChangeOfHeart, which involves replacing a missing or damaged heart. Not to be confused with AttackOnHeart, which is focused on the actual ''physical'' damage on the heart.

Compare SoulJar, where the thing done to the heart affects their vulnerability, and LiteralChangeOfHeart, which involves replacing a missing or damaged heart.