History Main / NoPlaceForMeThere

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'': Dolores believes the Sublime or the Valley Beyond, as most Hosts called it, is not a place for her and rather goes to the outside world, where all the humans live. However, by the time she finally arrives in the outside world, she realizes that it's no different from the park where humanity is under control by artificial intelligence which is similar to the Hosts being controlled by humans. By then, she starts a revolution where she destroys the A.I. controlling the humans, freeing them. [[spoiler:Despite knowing that she would not survive, she believes that Bernard, Caleb, and Maeve would continue her mission to build a better future for the humans and the Hosts since she had so much blood in her hands.]]

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/MajorPayne''. Payne learns that he's being forced out of the Army.

* Happens with [[spoiler:Merkabah]] during the Law ending in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV''. [[spoiler:Merkabah wants to protect the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado from sin by erasing Tokyo, and is well aware that both he and the hero [[KnightTemplar slaughtered their way to create their utopia]] and must be erased as well. Killing themselves also ensures that the people of Mikado who are alive cannot possibly discover sin, as Flynn and Merkabah saw many, ''many'' sinful things in their quest to make the new utopia happen.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender:'' Following [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderZuko Prince Zuko]] [[HeelFaceTurn defecting from the Fire Nation]], he joins Aang in order to teach him firebending and see his [[BigBad father]] overthrown, and nothing more after that. He has absolutely no belief that he will have any place in the world that follows his family's defeat, thinking that he has made too many mistakes to do so, not to mention his family's horrible legacy. His uncle Iroh dismisses this, telling him that the fact that he learned from those mistakes and broke from their family's legacy is ''exactly'' why he is the perfect person to lead the Fire Nation after the war.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is a very interesting case with Lelouch's Zero Requiem plan. [[spoiler:This involves [[AntiHero Lelouch]] taking up the Britannian throne as emperor and pulling a ZeroApprovalGambit so that everyone in the entire world directs their hatred towards him and staging his own assassination. Why does he do this? He wants to create an eternal peaceful world that will end all wars (particularly [[BigBrotherInstinct in regards to his younger sister]]). However, this involves sacrificing his own life since he cannot create his ideal peaceful world with people hating his guts. This is probably one of the main reasons why he entrusts his [[FriendlyEnemy friend and rival]], Suzaku, with the identity of Zero, since he could create a better world under the guise of Zero without him. Since the Zero identity was already well-established and to that point was simply Lelouch's masked alter-ego, the reason he chose the plan to end with his own death rather than pretending to die and becoming Zero full-time (the previous stage involved Suzaku quite convincingly faking his own death, after all) was apparently that Lelouch didn't believe he ''deserved'' to live in the peaceful world he'd created, while Suzaku did.]]

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Ryuk asks Light if he believes in this philosophy. When Light [[SubvertedTrope rejects this]] in favor of [[AGodAmI becoming the god of his utopia]], it's the audience's first hint he's a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist. ''[[AllThereInTheManual How To Read]]'' reveals that he ''does'' think there's no place for [[spoiler:Takada or Mikami, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness who have used the Death Note on his orders]]]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender:'' Following Prince Zuko [[HeelFaceTurn defecting from the Fire Nation]], he joins Aang in order to teach him firebending and see his [[BigBad father]] overthrown, and nothing more after that. He has absolutely no belief that he will have any place in the world that follows his family's defeat, thinking that he has made too many mistakes to do so, not to mention his family's horrible legacy. His uncle Iroh dismisses this, telling him that the fact that he learned from those mistakes and broke from their family's legacy is ''exactly'' why he is the perfect person to lead the Fire Nation after the war.

* In the penultimate episode in Season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', [[spoiler:when about to rewrite reality, Gabriel ultimately decides he no longer has a place in it or in Emilie and Adrien’s lives after everything he’s done and uses his own life as payment to have his wish granted]].

** ''Anime/VoltesV'': [[spoiler: When Heinel finds out everything he did was AllForNothing since the man he loathed for years, Prince Gohl, is his biological father (and the "humans" he's been fighting with are actually his own brothers), he moves Kenichi away from the burning rubble and accepts death, even as Gohl screams. For the first time in his life, he says the following words:]]

** Ironically, Mustafa Mond himself. He is one of the World Controllers, which means that it is his duty to keep the world safe and happy and free of worries. It means that he must sacrifice his own happiness and blissful ignorance and even temporary bliss of recreational drug use to keep it so. It is also his duty to remove everyone who threatens said utopia, even if just by questioning it and wanting higher things than shallow pleasures. Not by killing them, of course, they are not savages, but by exiling them to far away islands where they will be provided with everything they need and will be able to write and otherwise create things not allowed in society at large. It is also implied that once World Controller grows old and dies, their replacement gets chosen from that group of exiles, of genious people who saw beyond the system and all its flaws.

-->-- ''Film/{{Serenity}}''

* [[WorthyOpponent The Operative]] from ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' was both the {{Trope Namer|s}} and the provider of the quote the name came from. He wants a better world "without sin", but knows that, because of what he is and what he's done, he can't exist in such a world.

* ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'': In ''Last Stand of Dead Men'', [[spoiler"Erskine Ravel]] claims that once their plan is complete, [[spoiler:creating a world with mages in charge]], they will either hand themselves in to face judgment for their crimes or go into exile.

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'', "A Town Called Mercy". The Gunslinger, having fulfilled his mission, planned to walk off into the desert to self-destruct, believing he had no place in the world now. The Doctor convinced him otherwise.
-->'''Gunslinger''': I'm a creature of war. I have no role to play during peace.\\
'''The Doctor''': Except maybe to [[UsefulNotes/PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower protect it]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[TheDragon Tousen's]] character is elaborated on in the ''[[Literature/BleachCantFearYourOwnWorld Can't Fear Your Own World]]'' novel; fueled by a desire to avenge the injustice and corruption inherent to Soul Society, he once asked Aizen to kill him should he ever find himself forgiving the Shinigami, since that would mean all the blood he had spilled and all the crimes he had committed [[AllForNothing would have been for nothing]], and Tousen would not be able to live with himself after that. When Aizen asked him what he would do should their plans come to fruition, Tousen replied that he would take his own life, since a vengeful being such as himself would not belong in the world Aizen intended to create. Impressed by his conviction, Aizen promised to grant him a merciless death if he should turn back from vengeance.

* A central theme of the second half of the Aether StoryArc of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies'':
** In ''Black Ops III'', this view is revealed to have been held by Doctor Monty in a sense. While he agrees to recover and save the souls of child versions of Primis so that they can live in the House, a peaceful dimension away from the wider, fragmented multiverse, he intends on [[spoiler:having the adult Primis fade out of existence once the Apothicons are defeated. Primis Richtofen stops him at first due to securing blood vials for Primis to ingest, creating a paradox that saves them from fading out. Monty still protests they can't stay in his new utopia even after all they sacrificed and fought for; but with Richtofen's prodding, he agrees to send them back to the Great War, starting the cycle of new and resolving the time loop.]]
*** The defiance of this trope is even called back to in "Blood of the Dead" [[spoiler:when Primis Richtofen is dying; he protests that he wanted to live to see the fruits of his labor to save the universe, but it has now been ripped away from him]].
** ''Black Ops IV'' has this as the final cruel twist of fate. [[spoiler:When Ultimis Richtofen experimented on Ultimis with the Elemental Shard, he bound their souls to the Aether, meaning that as long as they existed, the universe would ''always'' be at risk of being corrupted by Divinium and the Apothicons. So Primis Nikolai kills Primis and Ultimis by poisoning them, and has Samantha kill him once the multiverse is cast into the Dark Aether, leaving Samantha and Eddie free to walk to a new, uncorrupted universe to live new, peaceful lives.]]
* Claudia of ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' is happy to stain her own hands with blood and cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt as long as her idea of "Paradise" can happen, but she's more than aware that she herself is too sinful to enter said Paradise.
* Creator/SidMeier

* In the ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' expansion pack ''Throne of Bhaal'', [[spoiler: Balthasar]] is on a mission to kill all of the Bhaalspawn. Since he is one himself, his final plan is to kill himself once all of the others are dead. In fact, he planned to use a ritual suicide to ensure Bhaal could never be resurrected.
* [[spoiler: Kreia]] from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' is well aware that destroying the Force will eliminate her along with the endless Jedi versus Sith conflict that periodically burns the galaxy. And that it might potentially destroy all life in the galaxy because all things contain the Force to some degree. She's perfectly happy with it and actually delighted that Exile [[spoiler: is able to not only prove her theories but become strong enough to kill her]].
** [[ConsummateLiar If that was ever the goal to begin with.]] [[spoiler: Whether it is the Force or the Jedi & Sith orders that Kreia was out to destroy, either one applies this trope. If she wanted to destroy the Force, it would seem that letting Nihilus continue as he was doing would eventually achieve the goal. But if she wanted to scour the universe of the orders and start anew... Again, either one would have to result in her death. She was, more or less, dead to begin with.]]

** This was shown true in the epilogue, where after accomplishing everything he set out for and more, Raynor is shown alone in a bar in Mar Sara, while his former subordinates and allies run the government. [[spoiler: [[PhysicalGod Kerrigan]] does come for him, and he was never heard from again.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'', every [[TheEmpath Liir]] who joins the military is considered dead by their former friends and family. The transition to their breathing fluid environments and the training to face and inflict violence is so traumatic that even before a Black Swimmer sees actual combat their minds would be dangerous for normal Liir to be around. Even those who make it through their service with both the hope and willingness to return to the civilian population skirt the trope: the first step of their recovery is being symbolically reborn with a new name [[ThatManIsDead to leave behind their Black Swimmer persona]]
* At the end of the Resistance campaign in ''VideoGame/{{Brink}}'', Chen, the Resistance leader, opts to stay behind on the Ark and [[spoiler: give up his seat on the plane the Resistance was using to look for land to someone with "less blood on their hands."]]
* At the end of the ''VideoGame/ActRaiser'' games, [[spoiler:humanity no longer needs the Master, and worship of him slowly fades away. His temples are abandoned, his statues crumble, and he is forgotten.]]
* Used on a small scale, and with a bit of a twist, in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}''. Your main motivation for everything you've done in the game is to safeguard the Vault you grew up in, first by securing their water supply, and then by wiping out a major [[BigBad threat to the continued existence of unmutated humanity]]. However, at the end of the game, as you return to the Vault, [[spoiler:you are blocked at the doorstep by the Overseer of the place. He outright tells you that you have no place there anymore - you've become too much of an outsider, too much of a warrior, to fit into the peaceful, bottled piece of civilization that Vault represents. How well you take it [[KarmaMeter depends on your choices so far]], but the end result is always the same - turning your back on the tiny world you helped save, you wander back out into the dangerous wasteland...]]
** Mirrored in a sidequest in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' where you return to Vault 101 and resolve the crisis that resulted from you and your father escaping the Vault at the beginning of the game. With the right dialogue choices, you're even exiled with a speech that pays homage to the first game's ending.
** You can also do this by accepting and following through with [[spoiler: Eden's plan of purifying the Wasteland from mutated lifeforms, once you realize that you yourself are not of pure gene.]]
* Saren in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' believed his actions and personal sacrifice would save lives in the end. [[spoiler: He was pretty heavily [[{{Brainwashed}} indoctrinated]] though.]]
** Shepard takes this route in the Control Ending of the trilogy, although [[spoiler: the human Shepard is no more by that point; the entity calling itself Shepard has [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence]] and leads the [[EldritchAbomination Reapers]]. It's implied that Shepard houses their consciousness in the body of Harbinger]].
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/GodEater1'''s original storyline, [[spoiler:Johannes]], plans to create an Ark to protect what he deems the best of humanity while the rest are wiped out by the Devouring Apocalypse, a process that would eventually result in the world being reborn as a paradise free of Aragami. He has no intention of boarding the Ark himself, as he feels that one who would sacrifice so many has no right to see the new world.
* Happens with [[spoiler:Merkabah]] during the Law ending in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV''. [[spoiler:Merkabah wants to protect the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado from sin by erasing Tokyo, and is well aware that both he and the hero [[KnightTemplar slaughtered their way to create their utopia]] and must be erased as well. Killing themselves also ensures that the people of Mikado who are alive cannot possibly discover sin, as Flynn and Merkabah saw many, ''many'' sinful things in their quest to make the new utopia happen.]]
** An earlier example with [[spoiler:Satan]] happens in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII''. [[spoiler:He succeeds in creating a world of peace, where the human mentality is shifted away from violence. But as the embodiment of judgement, he no longer has a role there, and so crumbles to dust, passing the baton to the messiah.]]
*** In the same game, [[spoiler:Gabriel]] tells you outright that as an angel she has no place in the new world, because [[spoiler:God is dead]]. Notably, unlike the previous example [[spoiler:she does not die, and so where she goes and what she does after is left ambiguous.]]
** Happens to [[spoiler:the Nahobino]] in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiV'''s GoldenEnding. [[spoiler:He takes the Throne of Creation, becoming the new TopGod, and uses it to create a world where [[TheMagicGoesAway gods and demons do not exist]] and [[EverybodyLives all of his friends are still alive]]... but [[BittersweetEnding he can only watch as his clone lives the life stolen from him]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', [[spoiler:the primal Alexander was created and summoned from wishes to create a perfect world. Though his summoners were a twisted Illuminati group who wished to use his immense power to rewrite history in their image, Alexander sought to achieve a true utopia for the people of Eorzea rather than his summoner's warped idea of one. However, since his very existence placed an enormous drain on the life force of the planet, and even worse if he were to actively take action, Alexander determined that he himself was the ultimate threat to his goal of a perfect world and secretly engineered his own demise at the hands of the Warrior of Light.]]
* In ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire'', [[spoiler:Eothas, the god of light and redemption]], believes themself beyond redemption. They regard their actions as NecessarilyEvil, but expect it to end in their [[DeaderThanDead obliteration]] and admit [[{{Unperson}} an erasure from all records and memories of kith]] would be a fair penance for the crimes they've committed.
* ''VideoGame/PrayerOfTheFaithless'': Gauron seeks a utopia [[spoiler:where the Manna are the dominant species while being free of the flaws of humanity. He acknowledges that he's a flawed and evil human who doesn't deserve to lead the Manna, which is why he wants Aeyr to kill him and lead the Manna in his place.]]
* In ''Videogame/FireEmblemFates: Revelations'', Saizo and Beruka's supports are about them pondering how they're both bad people whose actions tend to perpetuate the {{cycle of revenge}}. If they get married, they realise that if Corrin's mission succeeds, they will become superfluous... but at least they'll have each other.
* Yorick Mori from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' is on a mission to put an end to the curse on [[UnholyGround the Shadow Isles]] that causes the dead to rise again there endlessly. He ''is'' an undead of the Shadow Isles, though, and is fully aware that completing his mission will be the end of him.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', there are hints that Vayne Solidor plans to kill his last living relative Larsa as the last challenge to his power over Arcadia and its provinces. However, Larsa was actually planned to be his ‘’Inheritor’’. Vayne knew that the actions he must take to unite the world and free the people from the tyranny of the heavens would make him unsuited to rule the idealized society he envisioned, so was planning to set the whole thing up, then step down so his more compassionate and unsullied younger brother could rule the whole thing.

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' has the robot Blunt, whose interpretation of the [[ThreeLawsCompliant First Law of Robotics]] is that all robots must be destroyed, because they are posing a potential threat to humans.
* This is the fate of Warden [[spoiler: Kyo'Varde]] in chapter 49 of ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' after a more progressive Holy Mother is chosen.
--> '''Warden:''' I've done terrible things, little Holy Mother. I've strayed far from the path for too long.. I'm too corrupted for this new clan of yours.
--> '''Holy Mother:''' I forgive you!
--> '''Warden:''' [[[BeatPanel pause]]] I do not forgive myself.
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': Recurring antagonist Kowalski simultaneously believes that his actions, in the end, are for the best, while considering himself an irredeemable monster that will have to die once the galaxy's become the better place he wants. Given his favorite method is to [[GrandTheftMe download himself into unknowing and unwilling sleeper agents, permanently overwriting their personalities]], it's kind of understandable. [[spoiler:Ultimately, however, he ends up against this trope as a whole; a civilization that must rely on people that can't go back to it for protection ''isn't'' a civilization anymore. Hence, one of his mindclones' last words are to please find the original and kill him; the original, when cornered, wholeheartedly agrees]].

* Used rather cleverly in ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand''. An incident involving a black hole and a battle with Zurg sends Buzz to the far future, where evil has been vanquished for good, Star Command has been dismantled, and Space Rangers are no longer needed. Buzz, whose entire life revolved around Star Command, takes up a job at a museum to tell stories of Star Command's glory days. [[spoiler: The whole thing is a present-day ruse by Zurg, intended to trick him into giving away crucial details about Star Command's defenses, thinking there's no need for them anymore.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}:'' That’s the reason why the BigBad calls himself The Nowhere King. [[spoiler: He was the Elk-half of the Elktaur, who decided to split himself in order to get the woman he fell in love with, creating also a human-half (The General) in the process. However, since both halves retained the Elktaur memories, and The General got the better end of the deal by marrying said woman, leaving his animal-half homeless and starving, the Elk felt like he didn’t belong anywhere, not in the human nor centaur worlds, and decided to create an army of Minotaurs, both as an attempt to make a family of his own, and to wage a war in both worlds so he could be finally taken seriously.]]

* In the preultimate episode in Season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', [[spoiler: when about to rewrite reality, Gabriel ultimately decides he no longer has a place in it or in Emilie and Adrien’s lives after everything he’s done and uses his own life as payment to have his wish granted]].

->'''The Operative:''' I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.
->'''Capt. Malcolm Reynolds:''' So me and mine gotta lay down and die so you can live in your better world?
->'''The Operative:''' ''I'm'' not going to live there. There's no place for me there, any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.

* V from ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' (at least in the comic book version). One of the prominent themes of the comic was contrasting Evey's pacifism with V's use of violence to work for the greater good. At the end, [[spoiler: V pulls a TakingYouWithMe, knowing that his violent ways would not fit in with the post-totalitarian order. He is replaced by Evey, the new "V", whose efforts are committed to creating things rather than destroying]].
* Demogoblin, an enemy of ComicBook/SpiderMan, fits this trope. He and the goblins of his dimension had a vision of their wickedness and the wickedness of others. They've all gone to other dimensions to cleanse them of sin (which means killing most of everyone). Each of them will return to the home dimension when he's done cleansing his. Then they'll all kill each other and the winner will commit suicide.

* ''ComicBook/Block109'': When Lisa accuses Zytek and his men of being monsters for trying to destroy what remains of the world while declaring themselves the chosen few fit to survive, Zytek explains that he has no intention of saving his own skin and deserves to die for what he has been part of.

--> '''Exodus:''' If it must be hatred of me that unites mutantkind, so be it. Like Moses, I will deliver my people to the promised land but will not enter it with them.

* In ''{{ComicBook/Uber}}'', Stephanie tells Alan Turing that if they can end World War II and make a better world afterwards, it will only be better off without people like her and the Nazis for them having made the Uber super-program. To be fair, Stephanie worked with the Nazis while as a double agent for the Allies all along, she still is eaten away by the guilt and shame of her actions and considered herself a dead woman walking.
* In IDW’s ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' comics, Optimus Prime comes to feel this way about himself; he sees himself as a wartime leader and believes that once the war ends, he’ll become nothing but a walking reminder of all the death and heartache it brought. When the war finally does end, he resigns from leadership and [[ButNowIMustGo departs Cybertron]] in the hope of avoiding this. Unfortunately, [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive circumstances force him to come back]] and Prime’s fears about his role in the post-war galaxy are quickly proven to be well-founded.
* In the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse it's eventually explained this is the reason for Fantomius' disappearance: a GentlemanThief active in TheRoaringTwenties, once TheGreatDepression hit he felt the world didn't need him anymore and retired, but not without making sure that when the world would need him again there would be someone to pick up his legacy-that someone being Donald Duck in his Duck Avenger guise.

* ''Fanfic/FairiesOfTheShatteredMoon'': As she observes the aftermath of Haven's destruction, [[spoiler:Summer has a moment where she reflects on how she's willingly gone from a hero to a devil because that's what needed to save the world and make it better, and how she has no place in that better world but doesn't care as long as her three daughters (Ruby, Yang, and Cinder) are happy in it.]]

* Duo in ''FanFic/MegaManDefenderOfTheHumanRace'' believes his work will be done once the Stardroids are vanquished. Mega Man convinces him that someone like him will always have a place as a guardian.

[[folder:Film]]
* [[WorthyOpponent The Operative]] from ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' was both the {{Trope Namer|s}} and the provider of the quote the name came from. He wants a better world "without sin", but knows that, because of what he is and what he's done, he can't exist in such a world.
* V in ''Film/VForVendetta'' says as much to Evey at the film's climax:
-->"...the world that I'm a part of and that I helped shape will end tonight, and tomorrow a different world will begin that different people will shape, and this choice belongs to them."

--> '''Shane''': "I gotta be going on."
--> '''Joey''': "Why, Shane?"
--> '''Shane''': "A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can't break the mould. I tried it and it didn't work for me.
--> '''Joey''': "We want you, Shane."
--> '''Shane''': "Joey, there's no living with... with a killing. There's no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. There's no going back. Now you run on home to your mother, and tell her... tell her everything's all right. And there aren't any more guns in the valley."
** Perhaps most famously of all, Ethan Edwards in ''Film/TheSearchers''. At the end of the film [[spoiler:the rest of his family are reunited while he stands alone in the doorway, unable to even enter their house until he finally turns away.]]
* At the end of ''Film/{{Waterworld}}'', the Mariner helps his new friends reach Dryland, but ultimately decides that he can't spend his life on land and returns to the ocean.

--> '''Major Payne:''' "There gotta somebody that needs some killing."
--> '''General Decker:''' "Sorry Major. There's no one left. You've killed them all."
* Discussed in ''Film/TheNakedGun''. Veteran cop Lt. Frank Drebin notes that if this wasn’t such a violent world, he would be out of a job. But he would still give it all up tomorrow to live in a world without crime.
* In ''Film/VivaVilla'', Pancho is told this by Madero, as Pancho Villa, an illiterate rough-necked bandit, isn't really cut out for civilian government in a liberated Mexico. Pancho sadly accepts, but this turns out to be a big tactical error for Madero. Without Pancho's protection, he is overthrown and killed.
* The character Film/MadMax, in all of the sequel movies in the franchise, is a burnt-out loner barely more human than the savages who wander the wasteland. In each film, he helps a community of decent people trying to somehow eke out a better existence against marauders and tyrants. [[spoiler: In each film, Max saves the last few remaining good people who go on to build successful, peaceful societies. Even though they welcome him with open arms, he never stays because he doesn't feel like he deserves to be there, or in the case of ''Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome'' Max [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself]] to allow the good guys to escape without him.]]
* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': Captain America is afraid of this, and Scarlet Witch uses her powers to stoke that fear within him. Early in the film, Cap has trouble committing to an ordinary apartment in his former home of Brooklyn. His Witch-induced vision is of remaining at an end-of-the-war celebration while his comrades have gone. On the Barton farm, there's a shot where a silhouetted Cap pauses on the threshold of a family home before turning and walking away, in a direct homage to the end of ''Film/TheSearchers'' (see above). And Ultron calls Cap out on this directly, accusing him of ''needing'' a war to fight because there's no place for him in the world of peacetime. At the film's end, Cap accepts this as a part of himself and commits to life as an Avenger, and it's generally portrayed as a happy ending for him.
** Interestingly, [[spoiler:he seems to have changed his mind about it by ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. After saving the universe and returning the Infinity Stones, Steve decided he'd had enough war and to give Tony's advice about finding more out of life a try by going back in time and living out a peaceful life with Peggy.]]

* ''Film/{{Glorious}}'': After working together to prevent the apocalypse, Ghatanothoa acknowledges that he and Wes are not heroes, but monsters who deserve to be forgotten. Since the former is a ravenous EldritchAbomination and the latter a mentally disturbed SerialKiller, it's probably for the best.

* OlderThanFeudalism: ''Literature/TheBible''

* The short story ''Not Fade Away'' by Creator/SpiderRobinson is about a man. He is described as a muscular human being, and viewed as hideous by the narrator, containing such grotesque irregularities as an excess of musculature, primitive senses, and bilateral symmetry that leaves a blind-side. He's a Warrior, the last of his kind. Humanity grew, bonded, and merged with every other form of life. He and his fellows fought each other, with nothing else to do. They hoped, with the discovery of a Malign Bonding in another galaxy, to have an enemy... but they ''cured'' it. So now he is the last. And the narrator? An enemy. [[spoiler: Actually the last of the Healers, healing, by killing (and dying with), the only being left in the universe who needs healing. Each is leaving a universe he no longer has a place in.]]
* Literature/TheElricSaga's eponymous character, Elric of Melnibone, often fights for Law despite his deep connections to Chaos. In the end, he [[spoiler: literally makes a better world, destroying his world utterly (though it was already pretty close to destroyed, he and friend Moonglum were apparently the only non-mutated people left) and replacing it with a new world ruled by Law. He is the last survivor of the old world, Moonglum having sacrificed himself to provide energy for making the new world. And there is no place for him in the new world -- he almost immediately kills himself.]]
* In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', [[spoiler:Myria Lejean the Auditor turned human]] kills herself in the end, believing there is no place for her in the world she helped to save. [[spoiler: There is, however, a place for her in the afterlife, as she is greeted by TheGrimReaper like any sentient being, rather than simply having a CessationOfExistence like other Auditors]].

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' Frodo saves the world by casting the One Ring into Mount Doom. However, he's so badly traumatized by his experience that he can no longer live comfortably in the Shire and [[TearJerker departs into the West where he can be healed]].

* In ''[[Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant Last Stand of Dead Men]]'', [[spoiler: Erskine Ravel]] claims that once [[spoiler: his]] plan is complete, [[spoiler: creating a world with mages in charge]], [[spoiler: he]] will either hand [[spoiler: himself]] in to face judgment for [[spoiler: his]] crimes, or go into exile.
* ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' talks about this trope in terms of happiness. Indeed, the Savage's entire arc is a response to him encountering 'utopia' and discovering it falls far short of his expectations. When he speaks to Mustafa Mond, Mond explains that the modern world has done away with the hardships that necessitate the various virtues that the Savage speaks so highly of. He also says that John's embrace of those positive, heroic qualities would necessitate embracing sickness, ill health, rage, pettiness, violence, and more -- all things which the modern society has done away with. John praises heroism.
-->Mond: Conditions have got to be thoroughly unstable before the occasion can arise. Where there are wars, where there are divided allegiances, where there are temptations to be resisted, objects of love to be fought for or defended--there, obviously, nobility and heroism have some sense.
** John's ultimate decision is there is no place for him in that safe, sterile world.
** Ironically, Mustafa Mond himself. He is one of the World Controllers, which means that it is his duty to keep the world safe and happy and free of worries. It means that he must sacrifice his own happiness and blissful ignorance and even temporary bliss of recreational drug use to keep it so. It is also his duty to remove everyone who threatens said utopia, even if just by questioning it and wanting higher things than shallow pleasures. Not by killing them, of course, they are not savages, but by exiling them to far away islands where they will be provided with everything they need and will be able to write and otherwise create things not allowed in society at large. It is also implied that once World Controller grows old and dies, their replacement gets chosen from that group of exiles, of genious people who saw beyond the system and all its flaws.
* In ''Literature/ImInLoveWithTheVillainess'', [[spoiler:Dor François]] is a noble who has been supporting the commoner revolution for years, well aware and accepting that they will inevitably execute him.
* In ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'', Leto II's Golden Path for humanity is meant to ensure someone like Leto II can never have power over humanity again. Poignantly, this means Leto II cannot have any place in the future he is creating for humanity. He cannot even use prescience to see what it will be like since part of the Golden Path was to reduce the ability of prescience to see humanity's future. Leto II also ultimately comes to think that after all of the atrocities he committed to make the Golden Path possible, he doesn't ''deserve'' a happy ending.
* In the final book of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', [[spoiler:Rachel]] goes on a SuicideMission and dies because of this. [[spoiler:After the war became open, she fully gave into her darkest impulses and became a SociopathicSoldier only barely restrained by her teammates. She agreed to the mission because she realized that whether the war was won or lost, she would never fit into normal society again.]]

* A subtle example in ''Series/GameOfThrones'', "The Long Night". After being exiled from the North for burning a little girl alive, Melisandre returns to aid the living against the White Walkers. When confronted by Ser Davos (who swore to execute her should she ever return), she tells him there is no need, as she will be dead before the dawn. And indeed, after redeeming herself by playing a pivotal role in the battle, she leaves the castle and walks out into the snow without fear, crumbling to dust just before the sun rises on a Westeros finally safe from the Walkers.

* In ''Series/YouMeAndTheApocalypse'', Scotty and Gaines refuse an invitation to the ark they've built. Scotty, the principled one, believes he doesn't deserve it, after all they've had to do to make it happen. Gaines, the pragmatic one, knows they'd just be wasting resources better left for the chosen survivors.
* Stanton Parrish of ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' intends to create a perfect world for Alphas, free of the hatred and discrimination that they faced from humans. However, he concludes that the actions he must take to do so (namely, killing off the human population) make him unfit to lead that world, so he decides to leave it to Dr. Rosen instead.
* At the end of the second season of ''Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'', Francis offers Bart the chance to stay in his fairytale world, after she's single-handedly slaughtered the Mage's entire army. She refuses, on the grounds that she would just ruin his perfect world.

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'': Dolores believes the Sublime or the Valley Beyond, as most Hosts called it, is not a place for her and rather goes to the outside world, where all the humans live. However, by the time she finally arrives in the outside world, she realizes that it's no different from the park where humanity is under control by artificial intelligence which is similar to the Hosts being controlled by humans. By then, she starts a revolution where she destroys the A.I. controlling the humans, freeing them. [[spoiler:Despite knowing that she would not survive, she believes that Bernard, Caleb, and Maeve would continue her mission to build a better future for the humans and the Hosts since she had so much blood in her hands]].

*** The defiance of this trope is even called back to in "Blood of the Dead" [[spoiler:when Primis Richtofen is dying; he protests that he wanted to live to see the fruits of his labor to save the universe, but it has now been ripped away from him.]]

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', the greatest and most powerful slayer to ever exist, the man of who single-handedly introduced Breathing Styles to the Corps, turning warriors who once were nothing but completely normal humans, fighting a completely uphill battle to kill the weakest of demons into super humans who could then fend weak demons with relative ease, is banished from the Demon Slayer Corps after he [[spoiler:failed at killing Muzan for good as the demon king escaped through his grasp; the Corps turned on Yoriichi Tsugikuni due a combination of events that were all placed as his fault, even if indirectly, such as Muzan fleeing, Yoriichi sparing a demon, Tamayo, because he felt she should be free to live after Muzan’s curse on her had broken and the worse of all: his own twin brother betraying the Corps to turn into a demon, Michikatsu committed the highest act of treason by killing the then current Lord of the Ubuyashiki family, bringing his head as a sign of submission to Muzan; the Lord’s son became the new leader and oversaw Yoriichi’s trial, with his banishment actually being a merciful sentence by the new young master since the Corps wanted Yoriichi executed instead]].

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': [[spoiler:Eren Yeager's goal from the start was to eliminate every last one of the Titans. Given that he became one himself and gained the power to control them, it only makes sense that he ensures that they're all eliminated out, himself included, by going on a genocidal rampage and wiping out over 80% of the world's population [[ZeroApprovalGambit and ensuring that his friends are the ones to kill him off and seen as the heroes who saved the world from him]].]]