History Main / SelfMadeMyth

Will probably involve a liberal dose of ButHeSoundsHandsome. May be part of the TerrorHero's strategy. Compare BecomingTheBoast, FakeUltimateHero, MemeticBadass, and MilesGloriosus. Contrast TheDreaded.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
** The GodEmperor of Mankind, who deliberately set himself up to be feared as a powerful and mighty warrior and the strongest man who ever lived, and most of this can be considered true. However, his position has gone through a bit of {{Flanderization}}, being blown into being a full-out god for his empire, [[AGodIAmNot despite his insistence on not being a god]] specifically because he thought this was the only way the Chaos Gods were able to survive.
** Commissar Literature/CiaphasCain. He normally averts this trope by being far more humble than his "Hero of the Imperium" status would suggest. However, he is known for posing for propaganda posters that greatly amplify his myth. He poses with a bolt pistol in these pictures instead of his actual sidearm, a laspistol, because it's showier and more intimidating. Cain suspects other Commissars use bolt pistols for similar reasons.
** On learning that the orks believed him to carry a DeadlyGaze that could kill with a glance, Commissar Yarrick immediately contacted the Mechanicus with regard to getting himself an ElectronicEye that shoots lasers, because why waste a perfectly good rumor. Note that he'd already lost an arm to an ork nob, killing the ork and ripping its own bionic power claw off to replace his limb, so they were probably relieved he wanted something made by humans this time.

Will probably involve a liberal dose of ButHeSoundsHandsome. May be part of the TerrorHero's strategy. Compare BecomingTheBoast, MilesGloriosus, and FakeUltimateHero. Contrast TheDreaded.

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** On learning that the orks believed him to carry the EvilEye that could kill with a glance, Commissar Yarrick immediately contacted the Mechanicus with regard to getting himself an ElectronicEye that shoots lasers, because why waste a perfectly good rumor. Note that he'd already lost an arm to an ork nob, killing the ork and ripping its own bionic power claw off to replace his limb, so they were probably relieved he wanted something made by humans this time.

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribban'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] by Jack Sparrow; he ''has'' done quite a few impressive feats even before the start of the movies, but it's heavily implied (especially in the first movie) he deliberately plays up a lot of the myths around himself, possibly even starting a few of them, to make them seem much more grandiose. Case in point is how he escaped the island Barbossa marooned him on; Gibbs spins a grand tale about how Jack endured two weeks of starvation and thirst before grabbing a pair of sea-turtles and making a raft out of them. The truth is [[spoiler: he was only there for two days, surviving off a rum-runner cache he discovered before bartering passage from its owners when they came by to use it]].

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCarribean'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] by Jack Sparrow; he ''has'' done quite a few impressive feats even before the start of the movies, but it's heavily implied (especially in the first movie) he deliberately plays up a lot of the myths around himself, possibly even starting a few of them, to make them seem much more grandiose. Case in point is how he escaped the island Barbossa marooned him on; Gibbs spins a grand tale about how Jack endured two weeks of starvation and thirst before grabbing a pair of sea-turtles and making a raft out of them. The truth is [[spoiler: he was only there for two days, surviving off a rum-runner cache he discovered before bartering passage from its owners when they came by to use it]].

* [[DependingOnTheArtist Some portrayals]] depict Franchise/{{Batman}} this way, particularly those that focus on him as "The Dark Knight:" actively using theatricality to build an intimidating legend around himself so that criminals will be afraid of him even before the confrontation begins.

Will probably involve a liberal dose of ButHeSoundsHandsome. May be part of the TerrorHero's strategy. Compare BecomingTheBoast, MilesGloriosus. Contrast TheDreaded.

A SelfMadeMyth is a character who actively works to intentionally create a mythical reputation for themselves. They can do it for various reasons, the most common being to make people think they're awesome, or to make people think they're scary and want to leave them alone.

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* TheWizardOfOz might fit the bill, especially in ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'', where he's a trickster illusionist who makes himself out to be an all-powerful, immortal wizard, instead of a conman from Kansas. From the classic film, "the man behind the curtain" is far less impressive than his legend.

* In the ''Literature/{{Lythande}}'' stories, the titular character cultivates a mysterious and otherworldly reputation among common folk - figuring it can do only good for mages to be regarded with awe, even if only for parlor tricks like vanishing in the morning but leaving the room locked. Lythande also cultivates an image among other magical people and creatures as being swift to anger and prone to DisproportionateRetribution, because it comes in handy when intimidation is the best way to accomplish something and it forestalls any meddling; keeping everyone at arm's length is a happy side-effect.

'''Examples:'''

* ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle''. Macros The Black cultivated the legend of the Black Sorcerer to protect his own privacy and solitude. (And after Pug takes up the mantle of the Black Sorcerer, he continues using Macros's methods to keep people who don't know the truth away.)
* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle''. Kvothe came to the University under unusual circumstances, being very young, very intelligent, and too poor to afford the usual tuition. He knew from the start that people were going to spread rumors about him based on that alone. So, being a trained actor and performer, he decided to take an active hand in creating the legend of Kvothe, so that when people talked about him, they'd at least be saying impressive stuff.

* There was an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' where [[NiceGuy Mikey Blumberg]] makes up a rumour about himself to make himself sound scary, because he was tired of being seen as a pushover.
* ''{{Warhammer}}'' has Sigmar, a man who created his own empire (Known as the Empire of Man) and [[PhysicalGod became a god]] of his own right through the sheer combat prowess and strength he displayed over the many years he's lived. To consider him the single most influential individual in the game's setting would be something of an understatement.
* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has the GodEmperor of Mankind, who deliberately set himself up to be feared as a powerful and mighty warrior and the strongest man who ever lived, and most of this can be considered true. However, his position has gone through a bit of {{Flanderization}}, being blown into being a full-out god for his empire, [[AGodIAmNot despite his insistence on not being a god]] specifically because he thought this was the only way the Chaos Gods were able to survive.
* From the Warhammer 40,000 setting also comes Ciaphas Cain. He normally averts this trope by being far more humble than his "Hero of the Imperium" status would suggest. However, he is known for posing for propaganda posters that greatly amplify his myth. He poses with a Bolt Pistol in these pictures instead of his actual sidearm, a Las Pistol, because it's showier and more intimidating. Cain suspects other Commissars use Bolt Pistols for similar reasons.

* Film/TheUsualSuspects had Keyser Soze, a legendary criminal mastermind [[spoiler: made up by [[MagnificentBastard Verbal Kint]].]]
* The Wizard of Oz might fit the bill, especially in ''OzTheGreatAndPowerful'', where he's a trickster illusionist who makes himself out to be an all-powerful, immortal wizard, instead of a conman from Kansas. From the classic film, "the man behind the curtain" is far less impressive than his legend.
* While Lee Falk's ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'' doesn't actually create stories about himself, he's quite happy to repeat the stories made up by others to his enemies in order to scare them into either doing what he wants or making mistakes he can take advantage of.

* John Constantine of [[Hellblazer]] fame is firmly shrouded in myth, a good deal of it self-created. His actual power is respectable but hardly awe-inspiring, his reputation is based on his beating demons far, far above his paygrade. And while he DID beat them... it was almost always purely by tricks, manipulation and outright lies.

* From the Warhammer 40000 setting also comes Ciaphas Cain. He normally averts this trope by being far more humble than his "Hero of the Imperium" status would suggest. However, he is known for posing for propaganda posters that greatly amplify his myth. He poses with a Bolt Pistol in these pictures instead of his actual sidearm, a Las Pistol, because it's showier and more intimidating. Cain suspects other Commissars use Bolt Pistols for similar reasons.

* Film/TheUsualSuspects had Keyser Soze, a criminal madman made up by [[MagnificentBastard Verbal Kint]].
* The Wizard of Oz might fit the bill, especially if we go by the depiction of the OzTheGreatAndPowerful, where he's a trickster illusionist who makes himself out to be an all-powerful, immortal wizard, instead of a conman from Kansas.

* While Lee Falk's ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'' doesn't actually create stories about himself, he's quite happy to repeat the stories made up by others to his enemies in order to scare them into either doing what he wants or making mistakes he can take advantage of.

* Gilderoy Lockhart from ''HarryPotter'' is somewhat of a variation: all of his legendary accomplishments actually happened, and he definitely spread around the tales of how he did all those amazing things, but [[spoiler: he wasn't actually the one who did any of them; he tends to take other people's accomplishments as his own, adding them to his "myths".]] When Harry and Ron find out after they're going to Basilisk's chamber, Lockhart attempts to do one thing that he really can do: a spell that brainwashes people, which he tend to use in this kind of situation. Unfortunately, he stole Ron's faulty MagicWand to do it, resulting in the spell backfiring.

Will probably involve a liberal dose of ButHeSoundsHandsome. Compare BecomingTheBoast, MilesGloriosus. Contrast TheDreaded.

* There was an episode of ''{{Recess}}'' where [[NiceGuy Mikey Blumberg]] makes up a rumour about himself to make himself sound scary, because he was tired of being seen as a pushover.