History Main / HeroicSelfDeprecation

* ''Manga/SoulEater'': A chapter revealed that [[spoiler:Maka]] has a LOT of secret insecurities about her strength as a meister.
** Something of a TearJerker in how it came about, illustrated by her seeming inability to pull off one of her signature moves, and coming after a period of poor [[spoiler:Maka]] having gained much greater confidence and increased ability in the areas which troubled her earlier on; see how she handles both Arachne and Gopher.
*** As of the later chapters of the Book of Eibon, her entire already fragile base of self-esteem is just slowly being bashed to pieces. What self-confidence she had is nose-diving, and it's very worrying considering it was never very substantial to begin with.

** RecursiveFanfiction ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestriaProjectHorizons'': Blackjack takes Littlepip's issues to the point where she's motivated by nothing but sheer seething hatred of both herself and the Wasteland. And unlike Littlepip, she has [[DrivenToSuicide attempted suicide]] multiple times.

* ''Fanfic/TheKingNobodyWanted'': Zor Alexi of Sarnor (who is seeking aid in defending his city against Dothraki hordes) refuses to mislead even casual strangers about how much his TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard list of titles (Lord of the Silver Hall, Master of the Two Hundred Gates, Chanter of the Names of the Thirtyfold Thirty Gods, the Pearl Beyond Price, the Thread Which Does Not Diminish, Friend to the Supplicant, Staff to the Needy, He Who Is, First Lord of Saath, and High Prince of the Sarnor) means, as shown in a bitter and stunningly frank speech to Lyanna after a friend gives him a flowery introduction.
--->'''Zor Alexi''': You also left out that the Silver Hall has been stripped of silver and indeed, of much of the hall, that the Two Hundred Gates are down to a few dozen, and that while I chant the thirtyfold thirty names, neither I nor anyone else can tell you what three-quarters of them mean anymore. As for the rest, if I am beyond price, it is because I am worthless, if I do not diminish it because there is nothing left, if I am friend to the supplicant and staff to the needy it is insomuch as I support myself, and if I am First Lord of Saath and High Prince of the Sarnor, well, it is because I am slightly better off than any of my equally impressively-titled and extraordinarily impoverished fellows.

* In ''Fanfic/PatronOfTheArtOfWar'', Sabine berates herself for caving in so easily to Thrawn’s demand upon the threat of losing her eyes. Thinking of how Kanan has been able to function with his sight loss makes her feel pathetic. Now she knows that she has a price after stating how Thrawn could never afford her. Without her eyes she can't do what she loves.

[[AC:Unsorted/Dormant/Dead]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fics:
** ''Fanfic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': [[spoiler:Night Blade's self-hatred is tremendous, and it takes a ''lot'' to ultimately convince him that he is ''not'' a bad pony.]]
** ''Fanfic/TheWorldIsFilledWithMonsters'': Vermillion, despite his growing list of accomplishments both as a soldier and as a leader, harbors persistent doubts over his own worth and competence. He particularly tends to negatively compare himself to Canopy, his old commanding officer, and to question why Luna would have chosen a no-name former farmer to be her knight.
* ''Fanfic/NeverHadAFriendLikeMe'': [[OriginalCharacter Amanda]] has a near-pathological belief that nobody would ever willingly invest any time and effort into her and that the best thing she could do was [[ShrinkingViolet stay in the background]] and not do anything to bother anyone. Considering that she had no friends and [[ParentalNeglect her parents]] have spent years saying this to her face, it's understandable why this belief has been ingrained into her. [[spoiler: [[JerkassGenie Norm]] [[PapaWolf helps]] [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre overcome this somewhat]].]]
* ''Fanfic/AngelsBreath'': Ryusuke beats the crap out of himself for losing to Delia the first time round, despite having already shown his heroics to some degree, and blames himself for the entire team's loss to the Devil's Rage faction, even going so far as a HeroicBSOD. Then, there is this:
-->'''Delia:''' And here I thought you were one of the heroes, here to vanquish evil from the world.\\
'''Ryusuke:''' You thought wrong.
* Brittany has shades of this in an earlier chapter of ''Fanfic/NewReality''. Thinking herself as TheLoad, it took CharacterDevelopment to change her mind about it.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' fic ''Fanfic/VacationFromTheNorm'', Ron and Shego call Kim out on her self-depreciation, reminding her that while Kim's parents, her brothers, and Shego and Ron may have mastered one or two disciplines each, Kim has mastered many. Yori goes a step further, suggesting that Kim's constantly saying that her skills are "no big" is in itself a form of arrogance. Considering that Kim had just mopped the floor with a pair of [[EliteMooks former Spetsnaz agents]], Yori may have a point.
* In ''Fanfic/FromMuddyWaters'', Izuku is constantly putting himself down over his guilt and shame at being the son of All For One and having his PowerParasite Quirk. He feels that he's a DirtyCoward for using U.A. as a HumanShield against his father, despite doing his best to protect his classmates and nearly getting killed for it. He has nothing but disgust for his abilities, which were stolen from heroes his father murdered, and feels that he's a terrible person for using their Quirks.
* Deconstructed in the ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' fic ''Fanfic/{{Anachronism}}'': Sonia frequently delves into self-deprecation, especially around strangers. Though her body language may seem confident, her self-deprecation is due to veiled feelings of depression and inadequacy. It's implied she was eventually DrivenToSuicide because her loved ones didn't see the signs in time.
* ''Fanfic/BecomingLifprasir'': Due to his history as a weak nobody, Hiccup has a hard time feeling pride when he is praised, whether it is by people who are satisfied by his smithing skills or when the Hooligan Tribe thank him for essentially saving them from the Red Death.

* In ''Literature/LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor'', Luke is so disgusted by his actions at the Battle of Mindor that he tries to have himself indicted for ''war crimes''. It doesn't quite go as he wanted.

* A feature of a number of protagonists in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', particularly the [[UpbringingMakesTheHero characters from the wholesome backwoods of the Two Rivers]], but especially for GentleGiant Perrin Aybara: even after he's become a major leader in the events leading up to the EndOfTheWorld, has commanded MenOfSherwood armies at the scale of tens of thousands of soldiers through many a BigBadassBattleSequence, and earned the respect of [[TheMenFirst nearly every person who serves under him]] (as well as [[DefeatMeansRespect former foes]] and skeptics), Perrin is painfully self-doubting and uncertain of his worthiness to have anyone follow him, and [[ReluctantRuler pines for a simpler life without anyone looking to him for orders]]. It is undoubtedly meant to make Perrin seem like a [[TheEveryman humble and unassuming hero]] with greatness thrust upon him, and he does come off as a genuinely likeable person, more or less, but by book 14 of the series (with more than a thousand pages dedicated to Perrin's chapters alone, all of which present him as a ReluctantWarrior badass, a [[TheParagon paragon of virtue]], and a [[TheLeader capable leader]] who [[TheReliableOne bends but never breaks under pressure]]), the BrokenRecord of his self-deprecation cycle gets a bit hard to swallow, especially after he becomes really good at being TheBeastmaster ''and'' a RealityWarper-[[SuperWeight god]] of the DreamLand. The contrivance is laid on only a little less thick in the later books, but even then, his resolution and self-confidence take turns with huge bouts of ItsAllMyFault, particularly when it comes to his wife, who spends every other book as his DamselInDistress.

Not to be confused with SelfDeprecation, which is just cracking jokes. When a person
repeatedly put themselves down ser ChronicSelfDeprecation. See also TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, DrivenByEnvy.

* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'': The series eats this trope for breakfast, with a title character who thinks she's a significantly worse superhero than she actually turns out to be. Making it worse is that her suit is implied to be as tough as her self-confidence- and with that in the gutter, it actually significantly hurts her power, putting her

Not to be confused with SelfDeprecation, which is just cracking jokes. See also TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, DrivenByEnvy.

* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': After being hit with a series of revelations in rapid succession (that Jade/Kage was innocent of serving Phobos and that "the Mage" was manipulating her), Elyon realizes just how much she's failed at being Queen, berating herself for it and becoming determined to do better.

* Several of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s allies have come to the conclusion that Bruce Wayne feels that he doesn't deserve to be happy. Even years later, Bruce still feels that the death of his parents was [[ItsAllMyFault his own fault]] for wanting to see a movie. This in spite of reducing crime in Gotham, being a founding member of the Justice League, and saving [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis all of reality]] at least once.

* As a Deconstruction of a [[TheCape Cape]]: Samaritan from ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', meaning it's a bit hard to get through dinner with him without hearing him complain.
* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' eats this trope for breakfast, with a title character who thinks she's a significantly worse superhero than she actually turns out to be. Making it worse is that her suit is implied to be as tough as her self-confidence- and with that in the gutter, it actually significantly hurts her power, putting her

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' has been milking this trope for decades, despite the fact that he's one of the most famous heroes in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, an undoubted A-lister, and he's had numerous hot girlfriends over the years. On the other hand, his uncle is dead because of a crook Spidey had a chance to stop.[[note]]Otto Octavius claims Peter has been subconsciously sabotaging himself all this time because of what happened to Uncle Ben.[[/note]] One of his hot girlfriends was killed by his arch-enemy, who also happened to be the father of his best friend. Spidey may be world-famous, but that's mostly from being painted as a menace by the media to the point where any action he takes leads to questions about his intentions. He's fought alongside many other heroes and finally joined the Avengers after a long career that often saw him rejected outright due to his outlaw status. Spider-Man's whole career has been a double-edged sword that makes his self-deprecation understandable and fairly realistic. Peter is a brilliant and powerful man, but he doesn't think he deserves to be treated like one.
* Post-Crisis ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' is one of the world's greatest and mightiest heroes, has saved the world several times, saved countless lives, helped hundreds of people, and been a full-fledged member of four super-teams. Now you try to convince her of this. She has a rather low self-esteem and regards herself as an immature, clueless child who is barely worthy of bearing the S-shield. In ''Good-Looking Corpse'' she leads a team of young heroes and she is shocked when they praise her cleverness and leadership skills.
* ComicBook/{{Superman}} can fall into this at times. No matter how much good he does and regardless of how many times he's hailed in-universe and out as being one of the world's greatest superheroes, he is often far more preoccupied with the things he ''can't'' or ''doesn't'' do than the things he can or does. One of the fundamental aspects of his character is the consistent awareness that no matter how powerful he is, he can't be everywhere at once and he can't save everyone. This doesn't stop him from feeling guilty anyway—if he tries to protect a hundred, a thousand, or even a million lives from certain doom and manages to rescue all but one, it's almost certain that he will be far more regretful about that one life he failed than celebratory about the ones he saved.
** Case in point: Superman played a pivotal role in [[ComicBook/OurWorldsAtWar defending Earth from Imperiex]], thus saving the entire multiverse from total destruction; instead of celebrating this victory, he instead opts to add black to his costume's symbol as a way to honor the lives of those who died in the war—the people he was unable to help.
* ComicBook/FantasticFour:

* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': ComicBook/WallyWest, the third Flash, has this as one of his most defining traits, though it originally mixed with InferioritySuperiorityComplex and SadClown. Underneath his bravado, he felt that he was just Barry Allen's replacement and put his beloved uncle on a pedestal he could never surpass, and when he ''did'' [[ComicBook/TheReturnOfBarryAllen exactly that]], he continued to hold himself to such an impossible standard it nearly killed him. As time has gone on, Wally has repeatedly demonstrated that he has a lot of deep-seated insecurities and is self-conscious about any time he doesn't save everyone, which is despite the fact he's TheAce of the speedsters and is more-or-less a ''cosmic powerhouse'', who has personally saved reality many times. This got ''even worse'' after ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'', ''ComicBook/TheNew52'', and ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', which was just one long TraumaCongaLine for him.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' has been milking this trope for decades, despite the fact that he's one of the most famous heroes in the MarvelUniverse, an undoubted A-lister, and he's had numerous hot girlfriends over the years. On the other hand, his uncle is dead because of a crook Spidey had a chance to stop.[[note]]Otto Octavius claims Peter has been subconsciously sabotaging himself all this time because of what happened to Uncle Ben.[[/note]] One of his hot girlfriends was killed by his arch-enemy, who also happened to be the father of his best friend. Spidey may be world-famous, but that's mostly from being painted as a menace by the media to the point where any action he takes leads to questions about his intentions. He's fought alongside many other heroes and finally joined the Avengers after a long career that often saw him rejected outright due to his outlaw status. Spider-Man's whole career has been a double-edged sword that makes his self-deprecation understandable and fairly realistic. Peter is a brilliant and powerful man, but he doesn't think he deserves to be treated like one.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' has former AlphaBitch and ExBigBad Sunset Shimmer riddled with guilt over her actions in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls the first movie]]. Even though she pulls a HeelFaceTurn and becomes TheHero, Sunset still has a recurring flaw of being down on herself quite often despite defeating the forces of evil and becoming a genuinely better person.

* Even Franchise/{{Batman}} falls into this in [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE49IAmTheNight one episode]] of [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries the Dini-Timm cartoon]] when Commissioner Gordon is wounded during a police bust. Batman bitterly reproaches himself for his failure, thinking he does more to help merchandise salesmen than the people who really need it. This trope is {{Lampshaded}} by Robin, who points out that Gordon is fully aware of the dangers of his job, and tries to remind Batman that Gotham would probably have fallen apart without him. Eventually, it's subverted when a disgusted Robin gives up trying to cheer up Batman and goes to the hospital to protect Gordon since the mobster they busted has escaped from prison and is probably going to pay the Commissioner a "visit". Subverted again when Batman snaps himself out of his depression and goes to the hospital himself. The mob boss tries to whack Gordon and runs into Batman...

** As a result of her actions and mistakes caused by her ignorance and inability to completely learn from them, [[Characters/StevenUniverseRoseQuartz Rose Quartz]] is implied to have been heavily burdened by extremely low self-esteem. [[spoiler:She feels not good enough for Homeworld because the Diamonds' abuse towards her former identity for her compassion towards lesser beings made her feel worthless. And then she tries to improve herself by colonizing Earth (which requires leaving behind her childhood, including her playmate Spinel), only to learn the AwfulTruth behind the process, which adds to her self-loathing (and also implies that she regrets leaving Spinel behind but couldn't come back for her because she believes Spinel deserves better than her, unaware that she was still waiting for her). She tries to atone for her mistakes by fighting against the Authority to save her planet, even faking her own shattering, since she believed they loved her only as a Diamond and just to feel better about themselves, only to realize far too late they did love her as a person and responded to her "death" by Corrupting all remaining Gems on Earth, which she barely saved Garnet and Pearl from]]. She even feels not good enough for Earth and believes she doesn't deserve to be loved by her friends and family due to her failure to save the rest of them, blaming herself for the corrupted Gems.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'': Former AlphaBitch Sunset Shimmer is riddled with guilt over her actions in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls the first movie]]. This leads to her [[ShrinkingViolet not being as assertive as she should be]], and questioning if she is even worth forgiving. There are a few times that Sunset says she understands why everyone dislikes her, and once says to Twilight she feels like everyone's waiting for her to cause a problem. Adagio Dazzle [[FlawExploitation exploits this]] to keep Sunset quiet, giving Sunset [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech a long list of insults]] that prey on her insecurities.
** In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'', Sunset still easily gets down on herself, blaming herself for all magical problems and negatively comparing herself to [[TheHero Princess Twilight]].

You'd think that saving the world on a semi-regular basis would give your sense of self-worth a bit of a boost, if not cause some serious ego issues. The parades in your honor, the best-selling biography by your most ardent fan (''Monster Slaying and Other Handy Household Hints''), the fact that the town hall's been renamed after you... surely you don't need anyone else to tell you that you're loved and needed, right?

Not if this hero is anything to go by.

No matter how much they do for the world or what their [[TrueCompanions loyal friends]] tell them, they're still incapable of believing that they're anything more than useless. Every little mistake leads to a massive display about how [[ItsAllMyFault it's all their fault]] and how they're just not good enough. Praise may lead only to DismissingACompliment. They're being [[HumbleHero humble]]... and it went too far. Sometimes ''way'' too far.

Welcome to the world of Heroic Self-Deprecation. It doesn't matter how many lives they've saved, worlds they've rescued, or bad guys they've defeated--their self-esteem remains in negative figures and they'll still have a periodic HeroicBSOD, rendered useless until someone can snap them out of it by telling them they're wonderful. And someone will. Because for every hero with terrible self-esteem, there's a group of TrueCompanions on standby to give them encouraging words and speeches, usually with at least one GetAholdOfYourselfMan. {{Magical Girl}}s especially are prone to giving speeches of thanks after this happens: she repays her squad by crediting her success to the supportive words of her friends and love interest.

While [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools not always a bad thing]], this can get rather irritating, especially if the hero's exploits are so grandiose that nobody could fail to realize that they are A Very Important Person. Sometimes writers feel they're in a bind; wanting their hero to be modest but also wanting the audience to realize they're amazing. So they have the hero put themselves down incessantly to avoid bragging while having the GreekChorus of their friends reminding us that just because they don't brag about it doesn't mean that they're not [[CharacterShilling the best thing since sliced bread]]. This unfortunately breaks the ShowDontTell rule, which doesn't sit well with people. Especially if this trope is done so badly it veers into {{Wangst}} territory. However, this trope is quite more common in [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical settings]], since bragging a character's heroic deeds can be considered TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth.

* Usagi in ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', but it's balanced out by the other cast members criticizing and pointing out her faults, especially early on.